Wood and Its Impact on Humans and Environment Quality in Health Care Facilities

Veronika Kotradyova, Erik Vavrinsky, Barbora Kalinakova, Dominik Petro, Katarina Jansakova, Martin Boles and Helena Svobodova
Additional contact information
Veronika Kotradyova: Institute of Interior and Exhibition Design, BCDlab, Faculty of Architecture, Slovak University of Technology, Nam. Slobody 19, 81245 Bratislava, Slovakia
Erik Vavrinsky: Institute of Electronics and Photonics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovicova 3, 81219 Bratislava, Slovakia
Barbora Kalinakova: Institute of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinskeho 9, 81237 Bratislava, Slovakia
Dominik Petro: FaceMedia, Jazdecka 6, 83103 Bratislava, Slovakia
Katarina Jansakova: Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 2, 81372 Bratislava, Slovakia
Martin Boles: Institute of Interior and Exhibition Design, BCDlab, Faculty of Architecture, Slovak University of Technology, Nam. Slobody 19, 81245 Bratislava, Slovakia
Helena Svobodova: Institute of Medical Physics, Biophysics, Informatics and Telemedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Sasinkova 2, 81372 Bratislava, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-20

Abstract: The paper presents the application of natural materials, especially wood, which are relevant for human well-being in built environments of health, social, and day care facilities. These properties were tested by a complex methodology in a case study in the wooden waiting room at National Oncology Institute in Bratislava. In this space, experimental tests of physiological responses were further executed on 50 volunteers moving in the waiting room for 20 min. In this article, the EEG (electroencephalograph) (four persons) and emotions from the faces of all our volunteers before entering and after a stay in a wooden waiting room were recorded. Specifically, the ECG (electrocardiograph), heart rate (HR), and respiration activity were measured by using our own designed ECG holter (40 persons), and also blood pressure and cortisol levels were observed. The usage of wooden materials verifies their regenerative and positive impact on the human nervous system, through the appealing aesthetics (color, texture, and structures), high contact comfort, pleasant smell, possibility to regulate air humidity, volatile organic compound emissions (VOC-emissions), and acoustic well-being in the space.

Keywords: natural materials; wood; environment design; hospitals; human physiology; face emotions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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