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A new study published in the Health Environments Research and Design Journal looked at hospital greenspaces and the impacts on wayfinding and spatial experience. The study was an explorative experiment using immersive virtual environment techniques.

“The study compares people’s performances and spatial experiences during hospital wayfinding in two scenarios: the virtual hospital with window views of nature and greenspaces, and the virtual hospital without window views,” study author Shan Jiang told us. “The study hypothesizes that hospital greenspaces could improve hospital wayfinding performances and the associated spatial experience.”

Greenspaces is an umbrella term used to describe maintained or unmaintained environmental areas such as nature reserves, urban parks, and wilderness environments. The underlying theory for the current study derives from a former study by Roger Ulrich in which he describes a supportive design framework to promote wellness in hospital settings.

“The study topic prompts from the healthcare design profession. Wayfinding and signage system design has always been a task for hospital design,” Jiang told us. “It is also a literature review. The wayfinding issue was listed an environmental stressor and a concerning topic in healthcare design and practice by a guiding document published by The Center for Health Design and my personal experience and other people’s narration that people felt lost frequently in large hospitals.”

According to the World Health Organization, green space is essential to the mental health of citizens as well as for the earth’s ecosystem. But with many urban areas encroaching on rural areas, green space is getting harder and harder to come by.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the US cities with the most green space include Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Jacksonville, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Toledo, Ohio.

COVID-19 studies have shown that people who live in areas with less green space were more impacted by the pandemic.

Researchers tested their theory through an experimental design employing the immersive virtual environments techniques.

“The study found that participants performed better on wayfinding tasks in the IVE hospital with visible greenspaces, as indicated by less time consumed and shorter walking distance to find the correct destination, less frequent stops and sign viewing, and more efficient route selection,” Jiang told us. “Participants also experienced enhanced mood states, favorable spatial experience, and perceived aesthetics in the IVE hospital with visible greenspaces than the same environment without window views. IVE techniques could be an efficient tool to supplement environment-behavior studies with certain conditions noted.”

Researchers were not surprised with the results. The study results proved the study hypotheses

“The results have many design implications that could help improve the design of large hospitals,” Jiang told us. “Hospital gardens and window views of nature located along the main corridor and at the junction of departmental units could serve as landmarks that positively attract people’s attention, aid wayfinding, and improve their navigational experience.”