Factors Influencing Interior Design

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, interior design by definition is ‘the design or decoration of the interior of a room or building’. This simplistic and minimalist definition describes what 17 out of 20 people believe to be the concept of interior design. This survey shows that although everyone is subject to, and experiences interior design daily in everyday life, in many cases they do not realise the great extent of how much it affects their lives and how they perceive things. Interior design is much more than what this definition portrays, it is a powerful notion that has the ability to make people feel the emotions of anger, sadness, happiness and fear as well as introducing calmness, excitement or stress into our psychological

This emphasis on the productivity of an area can leave the space lacking a positive atmosphere, making it psychologically ‘hard’. In the majority of cases a space which is psychologically ‘hard’ fails to put people at ease resulting in a negative response; stress. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, stress is a state of mental, emotional, or other strain; it is a psychological response which can be triggered by multifaceted notions, to which environment plays a huge role. Hospitals can be examples of psychologically ‘hard’ areas, where the need for functionality can surpass the just as important and influential need to create a space where patients can relax and be stress free. A study carried out by researches over a decade examined the relationship between a ‘positive affect’ (feelings of content, excitement and happiness) and the risk of coronary heart disease. They evaluated that ‘with every one-point decrease in ‘positive effect’ on a five point scale, the risk of coronary heart disease increased by 22%’. This suggests the vital need for spaces, particularly in hospitals, to be supportive on a psychological level. To allow the patient to feel at ease in their surroundings, the interior of the area should encourage a sense of privacy and quietness. This would help destroy negative feelings of stress the patient might have due to noise exposure being linked to chronic changes in blood pressure and heart rate. ‘In the July-August 2002 issue of the Archives of Environmental Health, a team of government and university researchers concluded that exposure to sound “acts as a stressor”—activating physiological mechanisms that over time can produce adverse health effects’. Furthermore, with increased stress levels, as a result of the emphasis of the interior design of hospitals being on