Curated by Dr. Octavia Damian
Introduction
This study explores the analysis of environmental and biophilic elements of workspaces and commercial spaces, focusing, in particular, on the food court of a multinational sporting goods company. Through a detailed analysis, the project aims to map how and what elements of the space may impact employees.
Background and Objectives
The company in question recognized the need to analyze and improve commercial and work spaces to optimize both the customer and employee experience. The main goals of the project included reducing stressogenic elements and increasing the regenerative nature of the environments, with a special focus on connecting with nature. The rereresearch focused on 22 employees, analyzing parameters such as perceived stress, perceived regenerativeness, satisfaction with site features, and connection to nature.
Implementation and Development
Using a mixed-methods methodology and participatory design, the project actively involved employees in the surveying and development phases of improvement proposals. Two types of environments were analyzed: the retail spaces accessible to both customers and employees and the food court dedicated exclusively to employees.
Results and impact
The results of the pre-intervention analysis showed employees had a high level of connection to nature and naturalistic intelligence, a high level of perceived stress, a low level of perceived regenerative nature of the work environments and satisfaction with the physical characteristics of the environments. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected, the refreshment area was co-designed by the employees involved and implemented by management. In addition, greater focus was given to natural lighting, privacy, noise control, and personalization of the space, factors noted by the sample as most relevant to wellbeing.
A post-occupancy evaluation is designed to compare the constructs investigated and how they changed through the intervention.
