BIOPHILIC DESIGN IN OFFICE INTERIORS FOR EMPLOYEE STRESS ALLEVIATION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

In today's fast-paced office environments, employees commonly face high-intensity workloads, leading to increasingly severe stress and anxiety issues that impact their physical and mental well-being. Research indicates that biophilic design principles, which integrate natural elements into indoor spaces, offer an innovative approach to optimising office environments and alleviating employee stress. Previous biophilic design research has focused on the presence or absence of natural elements rather than spatial interface variations. Little is known about the Stress-relieving effects of biophilic elements on various spatial interfaces within office spaces, including ceilings, floors, walls, and desktops. Therefore, this study introduces an interface-based analytical perspective (ceiling, walls, floor, and tabletop). A total of eight experts were invited to form two four-person focus groups, each comprising an architect, an interior designer, a psychological counsellor, and a landscape designer. Data analysis utilised NVivo software to identify biophilic elements suitable for office interiors: green plants, natural materials, natural colours, the presence of water, natural forms, and natural imagery. The results indicate that biophilic elements exhibit specific interface distribution patterns, reflecting design priorities for particular interfaces(dominated by walls at 37.5%, followed by floors at 31.3%, with desktops at 17.5% and ceilings at 13.8%). Furthermore, distinct experiential mechanisms were identified for different surfaces: ceilings (indirect experience), desktops (direct experience), and walls/floors (dual experience). The study not only revealed the Stress-relieving effects weight of key elements such as ‘green plants on desktops’ (13.1%), ‘natural wall colours’ (11.9%), ‘green wall coverings(10.6%)’, ‘natural wall imagery(10.6%)’, ‘ground-level greenery(10.6%)’, natural materials(9.4%), and Ground-level water features(7.5%), Provides employers and designers with interface-based and user-specific resource allocation strategies, proposing future research directions to explore the stress-relieving effects of biophilic elements within diverse spatial interface combinations. To provide evidence-based design insights for optimising employee mental well-being through spatial interventions.