The Power of Beautiful Spaces
How Your Environment Shapes Your Well-being and Creativity
In our fast-paced digital world, we often overlook one of the most powerful influences on our mental health, productivity, and overall well-being, the spaces we inhabit. Yet the environments we create and surround ourselves with shape our experiences in profound ways, ways that neuroscience is only beginning to fully understand.
In the latest episode of The Floorplan podcast, I talk with
, an architectural designer and creator of thoughtfully designed living and working spaces. We chat about the creation of his incredibly beautiful work-from-home space called The Nook and chat across everything from a shared love of the work of Christopher Alexander to how we can create workspaces that help us thrive.Isaac says "I firmly believe nature is the place where we, as humans, feel the most alive." This fundamental recognition underpins his approach to creating spaces that elevate our experience and unlock our creative potential—spaces that, in his words, "light you up every time you go there, that you never take for granted, because of how special it is."
I could not love this more.
The Science Behind Beautiful Spaces
My own research is centred on understanding the impact of workspaces on human cognition, creativity, and well-being. I am constantly immersed in exploring how our surroundings shape our experiences and performance in work and life.
Our brains are constantly processing environmental cues, even when we're not consciously aware of it. Research in environmental psychology reveals that our surroundings trigger complex neurological responses that influence everything from our stress levels to our creativity.
Neuroscientist Colin Ellard, who studies the psychological impacts of architectural design, has shown that certain architectural features can dramatically alter our emotional states. In his fascinating book "Places of the Heart," Ellard describes how specific elements including ceiling height, natural light and spatial configurations trigger predictable psychological responses.
For example, spaces with higher ceilings tend to encourage more abstract and creative thinking, while lower ceilings often help us focus on detailed tasks. This isn't just subjective preference; it's measurable brain activity responding to spatial dimensions.
Emily Anthes echoes this in "The Great Indoors," explaining how our indoor environments literally reprogram our neurochemistry. Exposure to natural elements, like wood and plants, has been shown to lower cortisol levels and reduce stress responses. Conversely, sterile, windowless environments can increase anxiety and impair cognitive function.
And don’t forget overhead fluorescent lighting. The horror.
The Productivity-Beauty Connection
My own research has consistently shown that beautiful, well-designed spaces don't just make us feel good, they help us work better. My central PhD thesis found that beauty is a fundamental human need in workspaces and one that has traditionally been overlooked.
This connection isn't merely about preference or comfort. Beautiful spaces:
Reduce cognitive load by eliminating visual confusion and clutter
Inspire creative thinking through thoughtful sensory stimulation
Support focus by providing appropriate environmental cues
Enhance mood, which directly impacts cognitive performance
French highlights this connection in his work as well: "When we create beauty around us, we're not just decorating, we're establishing the conditions for our minds to operate at their best."
How Beautiful Spaces Foster Connection
Equally importantly, well designed environments shape our social experiences. Spaces that encourage interaction through comfortable seating arrangements, appropriate acoustics, and welcoming aesthetics can fundamentally alter how we relate to others.
Research from environmental psychology demonstrates that the physical features of our gathering spaces dramatically influence the quality of our conversations and relationships. One study found that even simple elements like circular versus rectangular seating arrangements significantly impacted the depth and duration of meaningful conversations.
This social dimension of space applies to our homes as well. French notes that "homes that successfully balance private retreats with inviting communal areas create the conditions for both personal restoration and meaningful connection." See Christopher Alexander’s incredible work A Pattern Language for more on this.
Creating Your Own Beautiful Space
The good news is that creating more beautiful, supportive environments doesn't require an architecture degree or an unlimited budget. French's advice is refreshingly practical:
"Take your corner of the world. If that's a bedroom or a corner of a room... polish it up to be absolutely beautiful."
More specifically, he emphasises being "intentional about every decision that goes into it, and not just throwing things together."
So what can we do to incorporate these ideas and evidence into our own spaces?
1. Prioritise natural elements
Our brains evolved in natural settings, and they still respond powerfully to natural materials and views. French's workspace, which he calls "the Nook," exemplifies this principle with its "huge pure glass windows" that "look directly out at this gorgeous view of trees and nature." He describes having "probably 30 different live plants and cacti throughout the space," creating "this constant feeling of vibrancy and life."
What's particularly powerful about his approach is the seamless integration with nature:
"If I get to a creative block in work that I'm doing, I will simply walk 20 steps out my door. And I'm in just this beautiful, immersive nature, and I can walk around and immediately feel recharged and reconnected with nature, and re-inspired."
Simple ideas to enhance the biophilic connection are:
Wood elements (even small accessories can make a difference)
Plants (which improve air quality while providing visual relief)
Natural light (position workspaces near windows when possible)
Nature views or nature-inspired artwork
2. Consider the sensory landscape
Beautiful spaces engage multiple senses harmoniously. Think about the elements of your favourite space, how does it engage your senses?
French describes how lighting profoundly shapes his workspace experience: "I think lighting is obviously key to creating vibe in a space." He details his approach to creating a multi-layered sensory environment: "At Blue Hour, which is one of my favorite times of day, right after sunset... we have all kinds of beautiful, small, glowing little lamps throughout the space at layered different levels. And there's just such a beautiful warmth of that light that glows both from the inside, and then you walk outside and you look back, and it just seems so cozy, and it draws you in like a magnet."
This aligns perfectly with what Emily Anthes describes in "The Great Indoors" as sensory ergonomics, that is the careful calibration of environmental elements to support our sensory systems rather than overwhelming them.
Pay attention to:
Acoustic comfort (use soft materials to absorb excess noise)
Appropriate lighting (layered options for different activities)
Tactile variety (incorporate different textures for visual and tactile interest)
Scent (subtle natural fragrances can enhance cognitive performance)
3. Create meaningful organisation
French challenges the notion that good design means more stuff: "It's not about layering in more things. I think some people assume good design or productivity comes from more equipment, more furnishings, more of this and more that." Instead, he advocates finding "the perfect environment, where I don't even notice the things that are here. But I feel differently. I feel energised. I feel creatively motivated."
As Colin Ellard explains in "Places of the Heart," visual clutter creates what neuroscientists call attentional capture, forcing our brains to constantly process irrelevant information and depleting our cognitive resources. This explains why even small organisational improvements can yield significant psychological benefits.
Create meaningful organisation by:
Organising spaces around activities rather than conventions
Eliminating visual clutter that taxes cognitive resources
Creating intuitive storage solutions that support daily functions
Establishing visual focal points that provide rest for the eye
4. Honor personal significance
The most beautiful spaces reflect their inhabitants. These can include:
Objects that tell your story or hold personal meaning
Color palettes that resonate with your emotional preferences
Flexible elements that can evolve with your changing needs
Spaces that support your specific rituals and routines
I have a Lego bonsai tree on my desk, I adore it.
Small Changes, Big Impact
What's particularly encouraging about the research is that even modest changes can yield significant benefits. You don't need a complete renovation or perfect conditions to experience meaningful improvements.
French suggests becoming "an intentional observer, and seeing, what do I like? What do I not like? What's working here? Why do I feel this way about this space that I'm in?" Then use those insights to "condense and refine and simplify and bring down those core themes" that resonate with you personally.
For those with limited resources, he recommends practical starting points: "That could be as simple as decluttering, repainting, and maybe having one beautiful feature wall of a material that really inspires you." He emphasises that everyone's taste is different: "This is a reflection of my taste, and the things that I like the most, but everybody has a different set of tastes."
Simple interventions like repositioning furniture for better flow, adding a plant to your workspace, or creating a dedicated area for a meaningful activity can trigger cascading positive effects on your daily experience. As research consistently demonstrates, these small adjustments aren't just cosmetic, they fundamentally alter how our brains process information and regulate emotion.
The Deeper Why
Beyond the practical benefits, creating beautiful spaces connects us to something fundamental about being human. French speaks passionately about how beautiful environments can counter what he calls "an epidemic of loneliness and of fragmentation" in modern society. He sees thoughtfully designed spaces as part of a solution to reconnect us with what matters most.
When asked about the extraordinary investment in his workspace, French offers this perspective: "If you were to look at it from a percentage of net worth investment into a space, a lot of people would probably say, 'Well, you were crazy to do that, you could have invested that money.' The way I see it is this is everything for me, because this is the place I spend most of my time, and I am going to create... my potential. My ceiling for creation has skyrocketed just because of the inspiration and the input that I'm taking in."
Colin Ellard echoes this sentiment.
"The places we inhabit literally become part of who we are."
In our increasingly digital world, intentionally creating beautiful physical environments becomes even more important. French emphasises this point when discussing his community's approach to technology: "We don't have TVs in our homes. We don't have Internet in our homes. We limit ourselves in a lot of ways... It's so easy for all of these different very invasive elements of technology to just do just that, invade your life in ways you don't expect."
Emily Anthes warns about this in "The Great Indoors", that our growing disconnection from physical reality has profound consequences for our psychological well-being. Beautiful, tangible spaces offer a necessary counterbalance to virtual environments.
French leaves us with this powerful thought: "I'm just trying to do everything I do with care and with intentionality, and believing that it's going to make an impact... if you just consolidate, and you look again at the way that you tend your garden or your front yard or your own bedroom, whatever you start very small, and then work out from there, and you polish your own corner of the world."
The next time you find yourself dismissing aesthetic considerations as frivolous or secondary, remember that your brain is constantly responding to your environment, whether you're consciously aware of it or not. The beauty you create around you isn't just nice to look at, it's foundational to your well-being.
The stack of empty coffee cups and papers all over your desk is literally draining your brain.
Creating beautiful spaces, ones that are personal and intentional is not just a nice to have. In doing so we're creating the cognitive scaffolding for more meaningful, productive, and joyful lives.
Here is to more of that.
You can listen to the full episode with Isaac here:
Libby x