WASHINGTON – Recent research has uncovered new knowledge about the influence of light exposure on human physical and mental health, as well as behavior and performance. Design professionals should consider these evidence-based findings when creating architectural and lighting solutions in built environments, reports the latest issue of Implications, a monthly research newsletter about design and human behavior produced by InformeDesign®.
Light influences myriad physiological, mental and behavioral responses. Inadequate light levels are associated with dysfunction in a number of systems. One recent study found connections between heart rate variability and circadian patterns of light and darkness.
“The body responds to a broad range of light spectra, intensities, and time patterns, perhaps in yet undiscovered ways,” says author Eve Edelestein, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and design at HMC Architects. From her own work and that of other researchers, she has developed some guiding principles that can inform choices to provide architectural and lighting solutions that better support and protect occupants in workplace and heath care facilities.
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InformeDesign (www.informedesign.com) is the first searchable database of design and human behavior research on the Web. The site currently contains more than 2,100 “practitioner-friendly” Research Summaries of findings from research literature transformed from more than 200 scholarly journals related to design and human behavior. In addition to the searchable database of Research Summaries, the site features Webcasts by design experts, a calendar of research-related events and a glossary of terms. The free Web site is interactive, allowing users to provide comments about specific Research Summaries or other site issues.
ASID is a community of people—designers, industry representatives, educators and students—committed to interior design. Through education, knowledge sharing, advocacy, community building and outreach, the Society strives to advance the interior design profession and, in the process, to demonstrate and celebrate the power of design to positively change people’s lives. Its more than 40,000 members engage in a variety of professional programs and activities through a network of 48 Chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more about ASID, visit www.asid.org.
The University of Minnesota is one of the most comprehensive public universities in the United States and has been ranked among the top three public universities. It is a state land-grant university with a strong tradition of research, education, and public service with faculty of national and international reputation. The College of Design unites programs in architecture, clothing design, graphic design, interior design, housing studies, landscape architecture, and retail merchandising creating a nationally distinctive, multidisciplinary college engaged in research, teaching, creative production, and public engagement. To learn more about the College of Design, visit www.cdes.umn.edu.
