Quantified Designs

BLLIS is built on the science of how spaces affect people. These are some of the studies behind the work — peer-reviewed, DOI-linked, and translated into plain language so you can read them without a research background.

Practical applications coming soon!

Color & Emotions: Subconscious Impact

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An immersive virtual reality study shows that blue room walls (in comparison to black walls and white walls) physically alter breathing patterns, sweat gland activity, and the brain states controlling relaxation, calm focus, and active thinking. The interesting part - individuals did not consciously perceive any change in their mood or emotional state.

Bower, I. S., Clark, G. M., Tucker, R., Hill, A. T., Lum, J. A. G., Mortimer, M. A., & Enticott, P. G. (2022). Built environment color modulates autonomic and EEG indices of emotional response. Psychophysiology, 59(12), e14121. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14121

Aromatherapy & Stress: Lavender Anxiety Relief

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A comprehensive medical review of nearly 1,000 participants shows that inhaling lavender essential oil significantly reduces psychological anxiety levels and physically stabilizes vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate, making it a safe, effective solution.

Park, Sin-Ae, Yoo, Onyoo (2023). Anxiety-reducing effects of lavender essential oil inhalation: A systematic review. Healthcare, 11(22), 2978. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11222978

Daylight & Health

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A residential field study monitored 20 adults living in their own apartments using regular window blinds for one week and high-tech "smart" glass for another week to change their indoor natural light. The data proved that maximizing indoor daylight exposure keeps the body's internal clock perfectly synchronized, allowing participants to fall asleep an average of 22 minutes earlier at night while significantly boosting daytime emotional well-being and energy.

Nagare, R., Woo, M., MacNaughton, P., Plitnick, B., Tinianov, B., & Figueiro, M. (2021). Access to daylight at home improves circadian alignment, sleep, and mental health in healthy adults: A crossover study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 9980. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18199980

Lighting & Health: Circadian Rhythm Consensus

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This major scientific consensus paper—backed by 248 international scientists with a combined 2,697 peer-reviewed publications in the field—concludes that modern electric indoor lighting severely disrupts human health. The recommendation is “human-centric" lighting to support our natural circadian rhythms. This involves providing blue-rich light during the day to boost alertness, and completely filtering out blue wavelengths at night to protect sleep and hormonal balance.

Moore-Ede, M., Blask, D. E., Blask D.E., Cain, S. W., Heitmann, A., & Nelson, R. J. (2023). Lights should support circadian rhythms: Evidence-based scientific consensus. Frontiers in Photonics, 4, 1272934. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphot.2023.1272934

Clutter & The Brain

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This brain-imaging study shows that when you look at a cluttered environment, your brain has two separate systems working to process: an automatic, subconscious system (bottom-up) and a forced, conscious system (top-down). According to this research, a cluttered space forces your brain into a state of constant visual conflict. Because your visual system has a limited capacity, a messy room forces you to constantly burn up cognitive energy on "selective attention" simply to ignore the clutter.

McMains, S., & Kastner, S. (2011). Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(2), 587–597. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3766-10.2011

Clutter & Stress Hormones

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A home tour study analyzing dual-income couples found that women who describe their living spaces with words associated with mess and clutter exhibit unhealthy, flattened cortisol patterns (the human body's primary stress hormone) and increased depressive symptoms throughout the day. On the flip side, individuals who describe their homes as restful or restorative show natural, healthy declines in stress hormones, proving that household organization directly shapes daily physical health.

Saxbe, D. E., & Repetti, R. (2010). No place like home: Home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(1), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209352864

Nature View & Recovery

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A landmark hospital study compared surgical patients recovering in identical rooms, which half looked out at a patch of trees and the other half faced a blank brick wall. The medical records proved that patients with the nature view healed significantly faster, required fewer strong doses of pain medication, and received far fewer negative health comments from their nursing staff.

Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402

Water Features & Stress

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This review of health data confirms that man-made water elements, like garden ponds, outdoor fountains, or indoor desktop water features, provide significant psychological and behavioral benefits. Simply looking at or listening to these artificial features reduces mental stress, restores attention, and encourages increased physical activity and social interaction in urban environments.

Xie, Q., Lee, C., Lu, Z., & Yuan, X. (2021). Interactions with artificial water features: A scoping review of health-related outcomes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 215, Article 104191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104191

Biophilic Design & Physiological Response

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This environmental laboratory study tested people in workspaces with and without nature elements, across both real-world and virtual reality rooms. The data proved that exposure to indoor plants and natural elements significantly reduces physiological stress—lowering blood pressure while also expanding short-term working memory by 14% and reducing anxious moods.

Yin, J., Zhu, S., MacNaughton, P., Allen, J. G., & Spengler, J. D. (2018). Physiological and cognitive performance of exposure to biophilic indoor environment. Building and Environment, 132, 255–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2018.01.006