Spec Finish

Design A business’s most important asset is its people. Oliver Heath , Founder of Oliver Heath Design, Vidhi Sharma , Creative Director at Modus Workspace and Jamesina Sainsbury , Director of Consultancy at MCM discuss their people led design approaches and what benefits this has to both the employees and business. ATTHE HEART OF ALL GOOD DESIGN IS THE USER 26 www.thefis.org 9 0% of a typical business’s operating costs are its people. Creating a good working environment through human- centred design is essential and will increase a person’s overall perceived wellbeing, will reduce absenteeism and staff turnover and increase staff attraction. Biophilic Design diverse spaces for diverse need Oliver explains the definition of Biophilia is the “love of life”, and it explains the innate human attraction to nature and natural processes. Biophilic Design is about creating healthy spaces that reduce stress, aid recuperation and enhance deeper connections with spaces, places and people in the built environment through meaningful interactions with nature and natural features. Increasingly, we are seeing a need to implement Biophilic Design into all our spaces; from the office to our homes. Compelling research shows that using this human-centred design approach can improve building outcomes whilst reducing negative costs and deepening our connection to the natural environment. Three core principles of Biophilic Design Direct connections: Direct connections to nature include a physical or living aspect of nature including sunlight, fresh air, views of greenery, natural movement and water. For example, living plants that you can see, smell and touch have been found to provide aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction. In-direct connections: This relates to how we mimic natural environments using naturalised shapes, forms, materials colours and textures. For example, décor can simulate different aspects of the outside world. Just a glimpse of the colour green has been found to stimulate innovative thinking and creativity. Whilst the use of natural materials such as wood, and spaces that include natural geometries such as fractals and curves, can be highly evocative and satisfying. Experience of space and place: This relates to our evolutionary experiences of spaces and offers us opportunities to create spaces that are exciting, stimulating and aspirational, but also calming, relaxing and restorative. Workplace distraction We are a distracted generation where 34% of employees are less satisfied working in a distracting environment, 70% of workers say they feel distracted at work, 50% of workers say their workplace doesn’t support them, an unread email in your inbox can reduce IQ by 10 points and it can take 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to a task after being distracted. Inclusive spaces sensory thresholds Sensory diversity exists as 15.5% of the UK population identify as being neurodiverse: autistic, aspergic, dyslexic, ADHD etc. However, it’s important to understand that everybody exists on a spectrum of being between hyper-sensitive (so needs less sensory stimuli are easily distracted, or overwhelmed) to hypo sensitive (so craves sensory stimuli and is unmotivated without busy environments) across the seven senses, be that visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, vestibular and proprioception. This does fluctuate between the senses, depending on the time of day, fatigue, stress and work type and workload. Wider benefits of nature connections Biophilic Design brings benefits to creating healthy cities, cultural and ecological attachment to place, aesthetic expression of Oliver Heath, Founder of Oliver Heath Design Jamesina Sainsbury, Director of Consultancy, MCM Vidhi Sharma, Creative Director at Modus Workspace