Working on the edge: healthy environments in hospitals and offices

Two recently started research projects in the research line of “Creating Healthy Environments” will be described. They focus on improving comfort, health and safety using smart and innovative designs and solutions for the built environment in hospital and office environments respectively. Solutions for healthy environments will not result from optimizing singular aspects but from a holistic approach considering multiple contributing parameters.
The overall objective of the hospital project is to gain more insight into the relation between lighting conditions on one hand, and user well-being as well as their performance in a hospital environment. The focus is mainly on staff members but will include investigations with patients as well. The expected results from this research project are addressing this lack of consideration but identifying the impact factors on the health care staff satisfaction. Recommendations derived from the research results will inform the design process and help guiding the design towards a healing environment that has a positive motivating effect on staff leading to for instances shorter hospital stays of patients and reduction of medical errors. The research is being carried out by 2 PhD students (one focusing on lighting and the other on acoustics).
The focus of the office project is on the interaction of staff with the lighting system and on their usage of the office environment. The connected lighting system of Philips which is being used in the new office building “The Edge” allows retrieving anonymous data on the usage and interaction with the lighting and climate system. Its impact on the health and well-being of workers as well as the overall strategy for efficiently operating these end uses form the research carried out by a total of 4 PhD students. The expected results and insights will contribute to recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of a lit office environment without negatively impacting the well-being and motivation of staff.