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<\/p>\nWe’ve spent years debating where people work. Remote, hybrid, in-office. Flexible schedules. Collaboration days.<\/p>\n
But a different question is beginning to emerge: What is the workplace doing to people’s brains while they’re there?<\/p>\n
New research from Isabelle Sj\u00f6vall, Cleo Valentine and researchers at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, highlighted in a recent Steelcase Work Better special report, explores how our built environments shape attention, stress, creativity and cognitive performance. The findings point to a growing field known as neuroarchitecture, which studies how physical spaces affect the brain and human behavior.<\/p>\n
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For organizations navigating an era increasingly defined by AI, innovation and complex problem-solving, the implications are significant. If knowledge work depends on focus, learning, creativity and judgment, then the spaces where people work may play a bigger role than many realize.<\/p>\n
The research suggests that buildings are far from neutral. Long before we’re consciously aware of our surroundings, our brains and bodies are already responding to them. Lighting, room proportions, natural elements and even the shapes of objects around us can influence how we feel and perform throughout the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cHumans spend about 90% of their time inside buildings, which impacts our mood, behavior and how we live our lives. But our brains developed for a completely different life and environment than the one we have today,\u201d says Sj\u00f6vall, research director at the Research Institutes of Sweden. \u201cUrbanization is increasing rapidly, which has many benefits, but also stresses the body and the brain in various ways. The positive side is that neurodesign can help minimize stres and build some resilience factors in our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are five insights from the research that stood out.<\/p>\n
1. Daylight Does More Than Brighten a Room<\/strong><\/p>\n Natural light isn’t simply a workplace amenity. It’s one of the primary ways our bodies regulate internal rhythms that influence alertness, energy and wellbeing.<\/p>\n Research highlighted in the report found that daylight exposure plays an important role in regulating everything from stress hormones to inflammation levels. When people lack access to natural light, the impacts can extend beyond comfort and affect how they function throughout the day.<\/p>\n Insight: Providing broad access to daylight can help support healthier, more effective workplaces.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Nature Helps the Brain Recover<\/strong><\/p>\n The research reinforced a finding that continues to appear across multiple disciplines: people benefit from connections to nature.<\/p>\n Studies cited in the report found that even brief exposure to green spaces can reduce activity in areas of the brain associated with stress and fear responses. Viewing natural environments has also been linked to greater feelings of calm and positive changes in brain activity.<\/p>\n This helps explain why biophilic design has moved beyond aesthetics and become a serious consideration in workplace planning.<\/p>\n Insight: Access to views, greenery and natural materials may help people recover from cognitive strain and better manage stress.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 3. Curves Can Calm Us<\/strong><\/p>\n Not all shapes affect us the same way.<\/p>\n Across multiple studies, environments featuring curved walls, furnishings and architectural elements were associated with lower stress responses than spaces dominated by sharp angles and hard edges. In one study, participants in curved environments reported better moods, experienced lower heart rates and even performed better on creative tasks.<\/p>\n While researchers continue to explore why these responses occur, the findings suggest that design details people rarely notice consciously may still influence how they feel.<\/p>\n Insight: Small design choices can have an outsized impact on comfort, creativity and wellbeing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 4. Tight Spaces Create Tension<\/strong><\/p>\n Humans tend to respond positively to openness, light and a sense of control over their surroundings.<\/p>\n Research found that enclosed environments can increase stress responses, while larger volumes, higher ceilings and greater openness are often associated with lower stress levels. At the same time, the research cautions against treating openness as a one-size-fits-all solution. People have different preferences depending on their personalities, tasks and moods.<\/p>\n The most successful workplaces aren’t simply open or enclosed. They offer choice.<\/p>\n Insight: People perform best when they can choose the setting that fits the work they’re doing.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 5. Lighting Can Support or Undermine Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n Most people notice when the lighting is too dim. Fewer realize that certain types of artificial lighting may create subtle physiological effects even when they’re not consciously aware of them.<\/p>\n The report cites research showing that flicker from some fluorescent and LED fixtures can affect a portion of occupants, contributing to increased brain activity, larger pupil dilation and slower reading speeds.<\/p>\n Researchers estimate these conditions may affect between 10% and 15% of people in a given space.<\/p>\n Insight: Lighting decisions should be viewed as a performance consideration, not simply a technical requirement.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A New Lens for Workplace Design<\/strong><\/p>\n For decades, organizations have recognized that workplaces influence culture and behavior. This emerging body of neuroscience research helps explain why. It gives leaders and designers a new lens for understanding how environments may affect attention, resilience, learning and performance.<\/p>\n The finding that matters here is not that a single space raises stress. It is that the same space that does so repeatedly, for years, to people who cannot leave it and who often have no language for what it is doing to them.\u201d<\/p>Cleo ValentineSenior researcher and innovation least at RISE <\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n The takeaway isn’t that every workplace needs a complete redesign. It’s that seemingly ordinary design decisions, access to daylight, views of nature, a mix of open and enclosed spaces, thoughtful lighting and softer forms, may have a larger impact than previously understood.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are past the question of whether the built environment reaches physiology,\u201d says Valentine. \u201cThe open questions are which features carry the cost, at what dose, and for whom?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.steelcase.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1794251068\/22-0184314_alt-3.jpg\")
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