Open AccessFeasibility study on mental health‐care effects of plant installations in office spaces
Author(s) -
Genjo Kahori,
Matsumoto Hiroshi,
Ogata Nobuaki,
Nakano Takaoki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
japan architectural review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2475-8876
DOI - 10.1002/2475-8876.12098
Subject(s) - office workers , feeling , productivity , mental health , psychology , quality (philosophy) , indoor air quality , environmental health , applied psychology , architectural engineering , business , operations management , engineering , medicine , social psychology , environmental engineering , psychiatry , economic growth , philosophy , epistemology , economics
Offices may have different indoor environmental quality related problems, such as space, indoor air quality, office workers’ thermal comfort, productivity, and mental stress. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of indoor plants on physiological/psychological responses and productivity, and to examine the mental healthcare status of office workers. To clarify the effect of indoor plants, we conducted a demonstration experiment in two rooms of an office. The experiment was performed in two office spaces (Office A and Office B) located in Kyoto, Japan. Office A was a call center and Office B was a general office. Subjects were office workers working in one of the above two office spaces. In the experiment, nine cycles were conducted while changing the type of plants including vegetables and foliage plants. A preliminary experiment without plants was conducted as a reference case. Results indicated that plant installations in office spaces have certain mental health‐care effects, namely, relaxation of visual fatigue and the feelings of drowsiness of five groups of work‐related fatigue feelings, and the effects by installations of plants depend on the type of plant and industry, although this study had some limitations because of the demonstration experiment.