Quantifying Access to Nature from Indoors
Project summary
Biophilic design, which integrates natural elements into built environments, has been shown to enhance building occupant well-being. However, a standardized method for quantifying how much indoor nature building occupants are exposed to, or "nature dose," is lacking, thus limiting our understanding of how much nature occupants need.
Our lab uses a novel tool adapted from prior work to quantify indoor nature dose using ray casting in 3D models of buildings. We compare this tool to alternative methods of quantifying nature dose in a building, such as pixel analysis or computer vision, and use generative analysis to estimate the tool’s optimal parameters.
With tools capable of quantifying nature dose, we launch into the design of dose-response studies in order to better understand the complex relationships between indoor nature dose and occupants’ well-being outcomes.
Driving questions
How can indoor nature dose be measured?
How do different tools to quantify nature dose compare to each other?
What is the impact of different doses of nature on well-being outcomes?
Project team
Eva Bianchi, PhD student, CEE
Prof. Sarah Billington, CEE