Fractal Patterns and Wellbeing: An application of biophilia in the interior space
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Date
2020-02
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Abstract
In recent years, the environmental psychology theory of biophilia has been presented as a solution for what the WHO called the epidemic of the 21st century—stress (Stress, n.d.). The biophilia hypothesis poses that when we are exposed to nature we feel better, and this wellbeing is proven to manifest both psychologically and physiologically as an increase in visual interest, visual preference, and mood, as well as reduced heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, increasing alpha in the frontal lobes, and increasing beta in the parietal lobes (Abboushi, Elzeyadi, Taylor, & Sereno, 2019; Hagerhall et al., 2008; Hagerhall, Purcell, & Taylor, 2006). One of the compelling reasons for our affinity to nature is found in the visual organization of nature into fractal patterns (Bovill, 1996). Interior Designers are responsible for creating the environments that prompt experience and shape mood, engagement and preference. This responsibility calls into necessity an interdisciplinary positioning that allows designers to marry the evidence-based results from psychology and science with a human-oriented approach. This paper introduces my work-in-progress research into the perceived wellbeing effect – in particular through visual preference, visual interest and mood response – to fractal patterns in the built interior environment.
Description
The Arts: 1st Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)
Keywords
Design, Fractal pattern, wellbeing, interior design, fractal, co-design