Psychologist Dr. Judith Heerwagen, well known for her research on environmental aesthetics, applied the term “bio-inspired design” to interiors in a 2003 paper that examined a number of studies of how the forms and sensory attributes of nature affect us instinctively and emotionally:

Understanding what it is about nature that attracts or repels is at the core of bio-inspired design . . . .  Although we tend to equate design with the sense of pleasure and enjoyment, design also must confront hazards and dangers in the environment in ways that intuitively evoke avoidance behaviors.  .  .  .  It is this link to emotions that we need to better understand, because design strives to evoke particular kind of emotional experiences, either as ends in themselves or as motivations for other behaviors, such as consumption, entertainment, and avoidance of hazards.

Bio-inspired design plays a role in the project featured in UpClose in the Fall issue of ASID ICON.  To augment and expand her earlier design for ER One at Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C., Barbara Huelat, FASID, drew upon her research on place psychology, in particular that of geographer Jay Appleton, who developed a prospect-refuge theory of human habitat.

As Heerwagen explains, “Appleton argues that people prefer to be in places where they have good visual access to the surrounding environment (high prospect), while also feeling protected and safe (high refuge). Conversely, high negative reactions are expected when one can be seen without the ability to see into the environment.”

With wait times in metropolitan emergency rooms averaging seven to eight hours, patients’ stress and anxiety levels are exacerbated by a lack of privacy and positive distractions.  Heulat’s design employs aspects of prospect-refuge theory to create an environment where patients can maintain interaction with staff but feel safer and less conspicuous.

To that end, the ER was planned to create three zones: the first, being most visible to the staff (Huelat said in follow-up studies for ER One, this area has been selected the most); the second, behind a partial wall and labeled the “social interaction zone” where patients could see the TV but not feel they were in the direct view of staff; and the third zone, most isolated of the three, totally behind a wall. “This zone had the greatest view out of the windows,” Huelat said, “and was the last to fill up. If people chose to sleep, they always slept here where they felt more secluded.”

Click here to read more about the bio-inspired aspects of the project.