Welcome to the world of wellness interior design. This unique approach to design is transforming our Interior design in ways that go beyond how they look and function. We now know all too well how traditional interior settings can cause harm through chronic stressors such as excessive noise and artificial lighting. But wellness-centric interiors focus on healing by ultimately supporting, and even enhancing health.
How wellness and interior design are interconnected?
An intrinsic connection emerged between wellness and the built environment due to health consciousness and responsibility towards the environment. The increasing demand for healthy homes, well-designed interiors, and surroundings is in response to shifting paradigms concerning personal health and well-being and environmental sustainability. The interconnectedness of these three themes becomes intertwined. Interior designers are uniquely positioned to actively address these pressing issues in their work because of their keen awareness of empathetic, occupant-centric, lifestyle-adaptive, place-sensitive, and harmonious residential and commercial interior designs.
A few aspects of achieving wellness interior design
There has never been a better time for interior designers to critically reflect on the value they can add to their projects to offer their clients beneficial, sustainable, timeless, ethical, restorative, and regenerative design solutions.
Color Psychology in wellness-centric Interior Design
Color continues to be deployed in varied environments, cultures, religions, sports, fashion, interior design, food, and even politics. In the 20th century, artists, designers, and scientists continued to extensively study and confirm earlier research into the psychology of color and our ancient human response to tone and hue. The aim was to extend the science of color, not just to provide guidelines for creating pleasing art, design, and communication or to use color to achieve purpose. Following studies undertaken between the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, the science of color morphed into color psychology. Currently, color psychology concerns itself with how color impacts human behavior and experience. This review connects varied, established knowledge about the response of people due to exposure to different colors in a modern range of environments. The emphasis is on chromatic use anywhere that interior design, finishes, artistically colored art, or a choice of color can enable preferred, varied biological, psychological, and social influences or specific, wide-ranging inappropriate risks in any visual environment.
Attaining a balanced mix of aesthetically pleasing tones in harmony with many preferences or response desires, with fewer negative consequences, enables color to act as a relevant, capable, positive influence on human behavior, health optimization, and improved health provision. This leads to the conclusion that the artful use of color should be standardized in hospital designs, for instance.
Light factors for Wellness interior design
As nearly half of our time is spent within closed rooms, it is no surprise that research has focused on creating vibrant and rewarding office interior spaces to cultivate the mental health and well-being of the occupants. The results from these studies all suggest that biophilic design within the workspace can have a positive impact on the employees. It helps in their emotional and cognitive well-being, increases productivity, reduces stress, and even can help decrease the recovery time from fatigue. One of the most important aspects of good office design is the lighting level; numerous studies have examined the considerable effects of lighting on a person's mood and satisfaction level with their workspace. Good lighting, whether it is natural or artificial, can play a big role in our day-to-day mood and even in our mental health. However, despite the evidence provided by the research, lighting is still generally not considered in the same way that other health factors, such as good air quality, are.
Adding plants and natural elements for wellness interior design
In the late 20th century, the concept of sustainable interior design introduced a notion of environmental responsibility in interior design to improve the quality of the indoor environment. In the course of technological advancements, lighting, and air conditioning systems were integrated into spaces in appropriate ways to meet necessary energy efficiency. However, interior environments appear to have neglected fundamental human-ingrained biological relations to nature. In this context, biophilic interior design is developed. Biophilia highlights three aspects of human experience related to nature: direct experience, indirect experience, and design implications.
Aromatherapy
Citrus, cinnamon, rose, or mint. Sounds familiar? It is because many of these delightful fragrances or oils play an essential role in our daily lives, both inside and outside the home. They are used in a variety of products, including perfumes, textiles, disinfectants, air fresheners, flavorings, and antiseptics, among others. However, perhaps one of the most surprising uses of these natural essences is in the control of our moods and emotions, and other practices related to Feng Shui, a thousand-year-old technique that originated in the People’s Republic of China and is based on the spatial distribution and arrangement of components, such as plants and objects, which, when in harmony, can generate health, well-being, and good fortune. Under this premise, the present work aims to emphasize and clarify the importance of essential oils in our daily lives, associating them with good practices of interior design for the humanization of residential environments, focusing mainly on the reduction of stress and anxiety and on combating negative emotions, establishing practical interiors based on warmth, comfort, and coziness, all together.
Scientifically, research has demonstrated several benefits of using essential oils. For example, the positive effects of mood states, such as indicators for the arousal-inspiratory stage, sensory descriptors of the mood (happy and fresh), physiological parameters (heart rate, electroencephalography, and respiratory rate), and sensory attributes of the emotions obtained in the skin. Oils have also been shown to have potential in treating respiratory disorders, such as nasal congestion. Not to mention that due to their mass accumulative power, they are excellent options for creating ambiances, especially when using certified aromas at low dilution rates. Furthermore, the literature has indicated that such properties of essential oils should guide the purpose of planning residential environments, based on behavioral architecture and biophilic design concepts, promoting both psychological well-being and the improvement of the conditions in homes for human comfort.
Zen Zone in Your Home
Zen principles and concepts for living, working, and relaxing are based on the simple down-to-earth approach found in Japanese design. The highly influential concept of increasingly simplified living does not abandon creature comfort. However, it creates a greater awareness of the environment. It reminds us that a balance among all aspects of a home is important, and that optimization does not mean reduction. The underlying philosophy relates to aesthetic spatial values and the harmony created by home and its surrounding environment.
Zen is an understanding of what makes a room beautiful, and the reason for its appearance. Great elegance is accomplished through simplicity. Japanese design has been through a continuous evolutionary process. Present-day styles reflect not only the long-standing craft but also how the modern Japanese live and work. Social customs have influenced the changing styles, but since the late 19th century particularly, influences have changed the Japanese interior. Paradoxically, increased Westernization has also heightened the idea of Japanese awareness of the simplicity and careful planning involved in Japanese interiors.
The main corpus of thought about Zen principles originated from Chan Buddhism which was formulated by a great philosopher. The word 'Zen' is the Japanese form of Chan. In Sanskrit, 'zen' is called 'dhyana', a technique of focusing the mind that requires the abandonment of thought and formal logic. It defines zazen, or meditation, as the non-linear, nonverbal practice of concentration. In Zen interiors, the sense of relaxation, meditation, and the ability to distance oneself from the pursuits of everyday living is reflected in their simplicity. A Zen interior design creates a mood of relaxation, harmony, and tranquility, as well as diversity through respect for the materials and their sensual appeal. Its essence is not ostentation but self-effacement, with a quiet timelessness.
Sound in Wellness-Centric Interior Design.
The field of interior design is increasingly utilizing sound as an element capable of shaping the user’s experience of the space. Concurrently, there is a growing interest in the concept of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in various sectors. The paradigm of ambient intelligent spaces (AmI) offers the potential to optimize interactions between the designed sound in built environments and the user experience, via the generic concept of ‘smart’ interiors. These interactions can be initiated at several levels. The basic interaction between the user and the designed sound is condition-led and aims to identify the emotional change induced by specific designed sound attributes. The more advanced interaction leads to strategies for the specification of sound that support the comfort, well-being, and enjoyment of the user in an indoor environment.
Conclusion
Through dedicated research-driven designs, we've learned that just with a few changes in our interior design we can measurably reduce stress and anxiety on both a physical and emotional level. We now understand how wellness-centric designs can be used to improve sleep quality, provide greater thermal comfort, and even address pain management through intelligent material choices. And in recent times, we're also beginning to unlock when they perhaps might not work at their intended levels.
