Physiological restorative effects of biophilic design elements in hospital lobbies: An immersive virtual reality study

초록

Hospital lobbies function as critical high-exposure healthcare public spaces where occupants experience peak anticipatory anxiety. According to Stress Recovery Theory, environmental influences are directly reflected in physiological responses. This study examines the influence of visual-only and audiovisual biophilic elements in a hospital lobby on physiological stress recovery. A between-subjects experiment (n = 168) used Virtual Reality to ensure precise control and ecological validity while isolating specific biophilic variables. Due to infection control constraints, this study excluded live vegetation and adopted 'natural analogues'—specifically including wood textures and biomorphic motifs as visual elements and forest soundscapes as auditory components. Based on a real hospital lobby prototype, three conditions were constructed: non-biophilic (NON_E), visual-only biophilic (V_E), and audiovisual biophilic (AV_E). Participants underwent a 4 min mental arithmetic stressor followed by a 6 min VR environment recovery. Results indicated that while physiological recovery occurred across all environments, the V_E and AV_E conditions significantly outperformed NON_E in promoting mean heart rate (Mean HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) stabilization (p < 0.05). The AV_E condition elicited the most pronounced blood pressure reductions. These findings demonstrate that biophilic analogues facilitate autonomic stress recovery, serving as a vital component of restorative design. Although the AV_E condition did not significantly outperform the V_E setup across all HRV-based indices, the findings underscore the conditional nature of multisensory effects, suggesting a need for more refined investigation.

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