Design science transforms meeting spaces for better wellbeing

Venues such as hotel lobbies, meeting spaces and guest rooms can help create positive effects on people’s wellbeing and on local communities, through the intentional use of colour and material choices.

These were some of the findings from a recent webinar looking at the relation of neuroaesthetics to hospitality, hosted by Design Hotels together with neuroaesthetics experts Kinda Studios. As a branch of neuroscience, neuroaesthetics explores the measurable impact of aesthetics, culture and environments on our brains and bodies. It looks at how these moments shape our emotions, decision-making, memory, language and consciousness.

By applying these principles, event planners could use the design, shape or colour of a venue to promote well-being among groups and facilitate networking. Some examples of venues and hotels suited to groups that are adopting these techniques are featured in a Kinda Studios report.

These include the red velvet-covered Silencio nightclub in New York, which Kinda Studios described as having “a cinematic and sultry atmosphere with glowing neon lights and a gold-lined bar”, and the Ion Adventure Hotel in Iceland, which features a viewing platform for the Northern Lights allowing guests to get closer to nature and feel more connected.

The webinar also touched on how physiological data can provide valuable insights into hotel guests' emotional states and preferences. By understanding how the brain and body respond to various design elements, spaces can be used to promote connection, self-awareness and overall well-being.

Intentional design with impact

Katherine Templar-Lewis, co-founder of Kinda Studios, said neuroaesthetics is an invitation to elevate our experiential perception of the world.

“It won’t just help us elevate design but also create more impact on the level of the individual and the level of society itself,” she said. “We now have the power to design our spaces with intention.”

She added that this presents an opportunity for [hospitality] brands to foster wellbeing in a far greater way than previously. Hotels, for example, could create spaces where guests can sit and interact and experience ‘mental travel for your own curiosity and for your own discovery.’ Features could include a new media wall, an installation or artwork in the lobby, in meeting spaces or in restaurants. Kinda Studios, for example, has created an immersive audiovisual breathing experience, where participants breathe in time with the artwork. Backed by science, it can help to reduce anxiety.

“Users can sit and watch this in a cinematic environment in their hotel room, or in a pod in a hotel lobby or in any waiting area,” said Robyn Landau, Kinda Studios co-founder. “The applications for its use are endless, and it can help energise people or calm them down. It’s a really good way for people to reset and rebalance on their own in their rooms.”

Landau added that such an immersive experience not only helps people transform their own individual self, but it also works on a collective transformation and collective bonding level, because people’s heart rates will begin to match each other.

Creating multi-sensory spaces

Hotels can also benefit from creating multi-sensory spaces, where sight, sound and smell combine.

“Scent can actually drive behaviour - [studies have shown that] if somebody detects a citrus smell, because it’s associated with cleanliness, they want their environment to be more coherent and mapped out,” said Landau.

With regards to further ways design can impact on wellbeing and connections, Kinda Studios outlined how buildings can use playful elements, such as curved furniture. This curvature, it said, is something that the human eye is naturally drawn to, creating a sense of openness and invitation.

“It makes us more expansive and encourages us to go towards things as opposed to avoiding them, and in turn makes us feel safe and calm,” said Landau.