Research collaboration within Neurodesign – Groundbreaking research to promote increased physical and mental health in our living environments
Kährs has since 2022 been a proud partner in a five-year research collaboration within the interdisciplinary field of Neurodesign, where Isabelle Sjövall is among the first in the world to obtain a doctorate. What happens in the brain in different room environments and how does different materials and floors affect us humans? How can the floor of a room promote healing, learning and creativity? These are some of the questions that Kährs hopes to find answers to.
Neurodesign investigates how the brain reacts and responds to built environments and how people are affected psychologically and physiologically by design.
In order to understand how to think around different types of environments and how to optimize built environments to achieve the desired positive effects on healing, learning and creativity, more knowledge is required - something that the research in Neurodesign aims to give. Since 2022, Kährs has been a partner in a research project with Isabelle Sjövall, who, among other components, uses floor products from the Kährs range in her research.
Kährs aim to apply the research results in both innovation and product development of flooring, which will thus be able to contribute with more precision to environments that promote health, performance and well-being.
An important advance in research is The NeuroDesign Index (NDIX), which is developed together with world leading researchers in neuroscience, architecture, engineering, and design as a new innovative method to evaluate and improve how urban environments affect the health and wellbeing of individuals. This index has the potential to be a powerful tool to quantify the quality of spaces and spaces to promote increased public health and wellbeing in environments globally.
"The floor is an important part of our indoor surroundings and as a partner to those who build our community environments, we see that there is a lack of fact-based tools to deal with the softer aspects of choosing the right floor for a specific purpose", says Anna Roth, CMO at Kährs.
"The NeuroDesign Index feels promising as a complementary tool in decision-making, both in our own future product development and in advising our customers", Anna Roth continues.
"I am incredibly happy to have Kährs as a partner in this world-unique research project. Our combined knowledge creates exciting opportunities to contribute together to new insights and innovations that promote all aspects of sustainability: human, ecological, and economic", 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
Read more about Isabelle on Kahrs.com
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
Anna Roth, Chief Marketing Officer, Kährs, tel: +46 70 769 68 22
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, having strong positions in other key markets, such as Norway, the UK, USA, and Germany. The Group has approximately 1,100 employees and annual sales of SEK 2,9 billion (2023). www.kahrs.com
