AIR CONDITIONING
The psychology of product design
Phil Deverick, commercial manager, Fujitsu General Air Conditioning UK looks at we process our environment.
L
ook around you. Have you ever considered how we observe our surroundings? It is less to do with what we see when we look forward, but instead how the mind processes our environment. We know that when we are uncomfortable being too hot or too cold, concentration becomes difficult. Still, most of the time, we remain blissfully unaware of how colour, space and design channel our focus. More now than ever, society is mindful of wellbeing and how our overall health and happiness link to different aspects of our lives. The World Health Organisation now defines health; not as the absence of ill-health but as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing'. We identify the link between social, phycological and medical factors, which means that health is no longer just about the access to medical care, but also relates to the quality of our built environment.
A survey by the Association of Accounting Technicians in 2018 showed that the average Briton would spend approximately 34 hours a week at work, equating to over 3,507 days over their lifetime, not to mention the 204 days overtime! For those working in offices, this means that the environment we occupy plays a significant role in our general wellbeing. The UK Green Building Council highlights the link between occupational wellbeing affecting a person and a
26 February 2021 business through productivity.
Air conditioning maintains our thermal comfort, with designs modified over time to consider contributing factors such as air temperature, radiant temperature, air velocity and humidity. In a more recent development, we improved controllability to accommodate the subjective nature of comfort. But what next, where do we take system design to benefit the multiple facets of a person’s wellbeing? Increasing amounts of studies are taking place to identify how we see objects and the effects they have on us in both colour and shape as well as the space in which both they and we occupy. The basis of most of these studies was to compare people’s reactions through feelings and preference to objects; with straight lines compared to items with curved lines. Backgrounds and surroundings of isolated objects were neutralised to reduce any unwanted influence. Subjects were asked to rate how pleasing things were, how they made them feel and how much time they would like to spend in specific environments.
The results show a clear distinction. Curvilinear forms elicited more pleasant emotions than items and settings consisting of straight lines. Emotions such as feeling pleased, peaceful, contented, calm and relaxed were all related to curves, whereas emotions such as stress, annoyance and
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