During the study, Mitie employees worked at these desks for four weeks at a time, answering daily surveys about their comfort, satisfaction, and emotional response. They then spent four weeks working in a control area on the same floor with similar environmental conditions but without biophilic design, and their responses were compared between the two spaces.

While studies have established the positive impact of daylight, natural materials, and a direct visual connection with nature, aesthetic design also has a strong impact. The bamboo screens strike a balance between the regular rhythm of structural ribs and the variation and playfulness of discrete leaves that maintain a sense of transparency and intricacy in the space. The leaves catch natural light but also diffuse embedded lighting within the screen itself.

While the living lab creates a sense of enveloping enclosure towards the rest of the office, it opens up towards the façade, providing long vistas and a strong connection to the sky. The Shard has a very technical aesthetic of glass and metal, and the warm bamboo palette of the Living Lab establishes a strong counterpoint to that material language.

Following biophilic principles, the desks within the Living Lab are beautifully crafted from natural bamboo and incorporate living plants directly into their workspace, but they also incorporate substantial technology. Achieving the experimental study on the users requires adapting for confounding environmental factors between the lab space and the control space, and on-desk sensors detect air quality, light levels, and temperature and humidity.

An access card reader identifies the users and allows them to activate the task lights and charging strips, while an under-desk sensor records when they are actively working at the desk. All of this data is collected in Mitie’s data lake and can be correlated with the survey results. Direct access to living nature is also shown to have a host of benefits, and planters are organically integrated directly into the desks together with the task lights.

The Regeneration Pods are also a part of Mitie’s mental health and wellness initiative and provide a tech-free meditative moment within the workday. Like the Living Lab, the Regeneration Pods provide a sense of shelter and refuge while also maintaining beautiful views to the outside. They are curated by a behavior psychologist in Mitie’s team who trains staff on mindfulness and meditation.

The visual language of the pods reflects their function but also creates an anchoring identity for this corner of the Shard floorplate. Giving a visual reminder of the importance of mental health and mindfulness was one of the key requirements of the design. The soft seating within the pods are large enough for someone to lie down and rest, but also designed for sitting meditation. The additional cushions allow one to sit as if on a bench, but also take off your shoes and sit in a lotus posture.

The Regeneration Pods also have a rich texture and material. Again following the structural logic that we see in nature, continuous ribs provide overall stability, while individual vanes create the overall enclosure of the space. All of the complex forms were fabricated by master craftsworkers at Aldworth James & Bond, who combined high-tech digital fabrication with traditional hand-finishing techniques to achieve a silky and sensuous final result.

As in the Living Lab, technology plays a role in the pods as well. Activating a pod with one’s access card begins a sound and lightscape that has been designed for mindfulness and reflection. A bell chimes three times to indicate the beginning of one’s fifteen-minute period and again at the end to indicate it is time to return to the day-to-day routine of work. A cactus garden surrounds the pods and again gives a direct connection with living nature in addition to the material and form of the experience.

Working closely with guidance from Dr. Marcella Ucci, we undertook an intensive 8-week pilot study of employees. A cohort of eight employees spent four weeks in the Living Lab and four weeks in a control area. We recorded their emotions, physical comfort, and feeling of productivity through a series of daily, weekly, and monthly surveys and interviews.

Key findings showed that employees in our workspace felt 38 percent more calm, relaxed, laid-back, and at ease. 10-20 percent higher levels of perceived productivity were also seen, based on concentration, problem- solving, quantity, and quality of work. Employees were also 10 percent more focused and 14 percent happier by mid-afternoon compared with how they felt when they arrived at work. Overall, 81 percent were more satisfied with their overall indoor environment than the ordinary office space.

Mitie have invested in the Connected Workspace imagining the future of the workplace. The wellness team that commissioned this project has pushed the boundaries of the architectural field with their determined commitment to bring together technology and biophilic design in a way that showcases a measurable impact on wellbeing. The decision to bring together specialist data scientists, technicians, designers, and academics through not only design but also operation and pilot study has resulted in something fresh and new.

This is markedly apparent when one looks at the Shard at night and sees the circadian lighting with its fiery glow in the midst of floor after floor of harsh white light. The future of workplace design will include more sensors, more measurable metrics, and ambition to improve the experience for all. But ultimately design should be at the service of humans; and finding ways to integrate the technology and data with beautiful and human- oriented design is the greater task.

This project is a strong step in the direction of bringing together data and design, and working towards our vision of measurably improving human wellbeing with designs of beauty and innovation.

*This article has been submitted by DaeWha Kang Design, a London-based studio with a mission to improve human wellbeing through beautiful and innovative design.