The methods workplace professionals use to measure the effectiveness of spaces historically relies on measuring space e.g. number of occupants, cost per meter or the status of the Indoor Environment Quality IEQ. Alternatively, workplace evaluations are conducted using traditional research methods that rely on the users’ subjective interpretations. Both methods result in gaps, primarily in the focus on space rather than people and a dependency on self-reporting which has endemic biases. With rising concerns for employee mental health and wellbeing and an established understanding of the impact that the built environment has in shaping our thoughts, emotions and well-being there is a need to establish better methods of indicating how workplaces affect the psychological and neurophysiological responses of space users.
One way to close these gaps is by expanding our understanding of how humans perceive space and the impact that has on mood, cognition and behaviour through the integration of neuroscience. This emerging multidisciplinary field explores the interface between built spaces and their impact on humans.
This presentation highlights findings from biometric experiments conducted in late 2025 that measured human’s experiences near specific design features in workplaces that were intentionally included and planned by organisations and designers to achieve stated project objectives. Portable Electroencephalography (EEG), GSR galvanic skin response and electrocardiogram (ECG) devices recorded data while participants were near common design features.
This is one of the few studies that measures people in space. The benefits of this research come from its contribution to expanding our understanding of how human's respond to specific design elements that organisations include in workplaces (and make significant capital investments in). The study provides information that architects and designers can consider as they select design features to help prioritize how money is best invested in workplace design.