Kährs starts five-year research collaboration in the field of Neurodesign
How does the floor affect us humans and what happens in the brain in different built environments? How can room design promote healing, learning and creativity? Kährs is starting a five-year research collaboration in this interdisciplinary field called Neurodesign, where Isabelle Sjövall, as the first in the world, will complete her doctorate over the next five years.
Neurodesign investigates how the brain reacts and responds to built environments and how people are affected psychologically and physiologically by design. In her research, Isabelle will study educational environments, healing environments, living environments, and office environments. Among other things, she will examine the role of the floor in different environments in combination with other components such as lightning, furniture, colours, shapes and materials.
The studies intend to use different floors from Kährs. In its wide range of floors, Kährs has products for the different types of environments in which Isabelle will be researching. Kährs aim to apply this research-based knowledge in future innovation and product development of floors so that they even better contribute to environments that promote health, performance and well-being.
"Some knowledge on the subject already exists, but some pieces of the puzzle are missing. We hope that the research project will give us facts about how different elements in a room affect people and thus provide keys to the flooring of the future." says Sara Olofsson, CCO, Commercial Sales at Kährs.
"I am incredibly happy to have Kährs as a partner in this world-unique research project. Our shared knowledge creates exciting opportunities to jointly contribute to new insights and innovations that promote all aspects of sustainability: human, ecological and financial," says Isabelle Sjövall.
About Isabelle Sjövall
Isabelle is a neurodesigner, author and cognitive scientist with more than 15 years of practical experience of advanced projects in architecture, design, and the property industry.
Isabelle’s educational background is multidisciplinary, and she has studied economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, architecture and design in Florence, Italy, and neuroscience, psychology and mental health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, at Kings College London.
Isabelle will be the first person in the world to receive a doctorate in the new interdisciplinary research field of Neurodesign, which investigates how the brain reacts and responds to built environments and how people are affected psychologically and physiologically by design.
Photos of Isabelle Sjövall: Jenny Hammar
About UCL and PEARL
Isabelle’s research is based at the Faculty of Brain Sciences, Institute for Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London (UCL), a world-leading research university. UCL is a world-leading university top-ranked in both neuroscience and architecture, which creates unique opportunities to conduct research at the forefront. The research focus is how design affects cognition, creativity and wellbeing, and which components and combinations that can affect people in a positive direction. I will investigate many different parts of the built environment from a multisensory perspective such as materials, tactility, colours, shapes, light and biophilic design. The aim is to contribute to new research-based knowledge that can be applied in future environments to promote health, performance, and wellbeing.
PEARL, which stands for Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory, is a new state-of-the-art world-unique research laboratory in London and part of research powerhouse UCL. The laboratory has a floor span of about 4,000 m2 and specialises in measuring how people react to and interact with their surrounding environment.
For more information, please contact:
Helén Johansson, Corporate Communication, Kährs, tel: +46 70 364 60 30
Malin Johansson, Marknadschef Kährs Sweden Commercial, tel: +46 73 051 26 24
About Kährs
Kährs is a leading manufacturer and distributor of flooring with the aim of providing customer experiences beyond expectations. Kährs’ innovations have shaped the industry throughout its history and the company is dedicated to offering flooring solutions for every room, environment and need. The company delivers sustainable and durable flooring solutions to more than 70 countries, being a market leader in hardwood flooring in Sweden and Finland and having strong positions in other key markets, such as Norway, the UK, US, Germany, and Switzerland. The Group has approximately 1,500 employees and annual sales of more than SEK 3.9 billion. www.kahrs.com