Airport wellness – an oxymoron or a soon to become reality?
Can you reduce jetlags impact even before you fly? I previously shared Can you beat jetlag? how consciously aligning our sleeping and eating times with the time zone of our destination can help alleviate the effects of jetlag before we set off, but this won’t alleviate it fully. So what more can be done?
Qantas are designing lounges based on their research partnership with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre to help passengers ameliorate the impact of long-haul flights. On a recent trip to London I had the opportunity to visit the new transfer lounge in Perth that has been designed to help people arrive rejuvenated after a long-haul flight (not just “a” long-haul flight, one of the “the” longest-haul flights out there!). This collaboration between the research centre, airline and industrial designer David Caon and SUMU design is using an evidence-based approach to improve flight wellness.
How can design contribute to improved wellness outcomes?
Qantas’s Perth lounge is a beautifully designed space that integrates both indoor and outdoor spaces, and incorporates natural materials and biophilic design elements to maximise comfort and impact. Biophilic what? The biophilia hypothesis (also called BET), suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Thus using biophilic elements in building and public space design such as access to sunlight, natural materials, shapes and forms, space, and beauty have been found to sooth and restore mental state and mood, and improve wellbeing.
In this case the Qantas lounge provides passengers with access to fresh air and natural light on the terrace, a wellness studio with hosted stretching classes and shower suites which include ‘body clock’ light therapy lamps to increase alertness. Careful consideration has also been given to the food and drink on offer, with “quench stations” and a juice bar to help increase hydration, and light, healthy food options such as raw nuts, fruits, and fresh salads.
So, what can these new generation lounges teach us about everyday workplaces?
It makes sense that if the use of biophilic elements can be incorporated into traveller spaces to help mitigate the effects of jetlag, that it can also be incorporated into workplace design. By incorporating plants, access to light and space, the use of natural materials, or designs based on natural colours and shapes this can reduce stress levels and create an atmosphere conducive to psychological and physical rejuvenation and restoration – even at work.
A combination of inside and outside settings in workplace designs could be helpful in supporting employees to be at their best at work, it could also provide a range of settings to enhance the different types of work undertaken in a typical day, such as individual focused tasks, team-based collaboration, and social connections.
Additionally, wellness rooms with guided stretching sessions, and light and healthy nutritional choices could help nudge employees into healthy habits, and in doing so increase their alertness and concentration, thus contributing to greater work output.
It seems that a conscious focus on curating wellness in both airline lounges and workplaces, can enhance mood, wellbeing and ultimately, performance.
Originally published on LinkedIn November, 2018