How to make interior design work for mental well-being at home or the office

Air quality, temperature and textures are all elements that can help boost mood, say the award-winning creatives of Roar Design Studio

Adopting a minimalistic style and bringing nature into interiors are ways to help increase well-being, say experts. Photo: Pallavi Dean / Roar

It should come as no surprise that the spaces in which we spend the most time – that is, our homes and offices – can affect our mental well-being in myriad ways.

Over the years, several studies have proven links between emotional wellness and everything from the types of textures and fabrics you use, to lighting and whether you incorporate nature in design.

A 2022 study published in the journal Environmental Futures: Creative Explorations through Science, Engineering, Design, and Art, for example, found neutral colours, natural materials (such as cotton and wood) and objects with which emotional relationships are created help better our well-being.

Natural light exposure is also linked to increased serotonin levels, which can boost mood. The viewing of artworks has been found to increase blood flow in areas of the brain usually associated with love. Interaction with indoor plants has also shown to reduce physiological and psychological stress.

'We wanted to make sure there was no taboo'

Design for psychological well-being was a hot topic at the recent Index 2024, Dubai’s leading interior design expo, where Kathryn Athreya, managing director of Roar Design Studio, took part in a panel discussion on mental health in the workspace.

“We believe strongly in the link between psychology and design, and what an important part design plays. It’s something we bring to a lot of our clients,” Athreya tells The National.

She and studio founder Pallavi Dean have been open about their own struggles with anxiety, which led them to incorporate psychology into everything they do at Roar, says Athreya. The studio won a Mentl Award last year for Best Mental Health Care in the Creative Industries.

“As women leaders, we need to be authentic and honest about the struggles we face,” says Athreya. “As you talk about it more, you realise it's not in isolation. Almost everybody you speak to has had experience with some form of anxiety or imposter syndrome.

“There is such a wide variety of things we all work through… we’ve been very forward about speaking about it, especially with our team. We wanted to make sure there was no taboo.”

To help with this mission, Roar works with Briar Jacques, founder of Dubai mental health clinic Free Spirit Collective, to host monthly workshops on a range of topics to improve employees’ emotional well-being, whether that’s managing stress at work or work-life balance and coping with imposter syndrome. They also organise yoga, meditation and sound healing sessions.

Jacques also consults on client briefs. “Briar will ask questions of the clients from a very different perspective,” says Athreya. “We might say: 'How many desks do you need to fit in this office?' Or 'how many rooms do you need?' Whereas she will ask: 'How do you want people to feel when they come in? How do we create defensible spaces? How do we create psychological safety in this workplace?'

“She really is coming at it from a very different angle, but one we think is equally important, if not more.”

The five senses are key

The significance of interior design to mental well-being cannot be understated, says Jacques. “We have ancient software with modern hardware,” she tells The National.

It all comes down to the way a space makes you feel and the “sensory load”, she adds. “That’s the light, the sound, the smell and the general ambience. And that’s more than just ‘oh, it’s pretty’. It needs to obviously be aesthetically pleasing, but what’s aesthetically pleasing to one person isn’t to another, so you’ve got to find something that’s a bit interpretable there. It’s got to be pragmatic comfort.”

Examples she uses are the flow of a space, the ergonomics and flexibility, where you can adjust furniture or incorporate multi-use areas.

“You could have the most beautiful-looking office in the world, but if the air quality is bad or it doesn’t smell good, people will not work well in that space,” Jacques adds. “They won’t be creative in that space.”

Dean also emphasises that the senses are key. “In design, we have a theory called phenomenology, which deals with the five senses,” she says. “If you focus on those, you will instantly come at ease.”

This includes how materials feel to touch or the colour temperature in your home at the end of a long working day. “We’re so bombarded by visual stimulation that we have to make sure there are spaces that give our eyes respite in our daily lives.”

Bringing the outside in, also referred to in interior design as biophilia, such as including natural materials and plants in your space, is also important, she adds, as well as the acoustics of a space.

Most recently, Dean was working with a client who has a neurodivergent child, so they had to choose textures and colour palettes the child is comfortable with, and create cocooned spaces where they could feel safe. “I think a lot of us don’t think about that,” she says.

Jacques says tending to the “invisible features” of a space, particularly in your own home, is imperative and doesn’t have to cost much. “You can attend to the visible of where you put things, but if you don’t love something, don’t have it there,” she explains. “Err on the side of minimalism.”

She also suggests infusing your air with nice smells – “preferably something natural” – or putting on some soothing music, buying an air purifier and, again, introducing biophilia, “whether that’s a green or natural-coloured wall or a nice piece of driftwood or some seashells you’ve collected”.

“These don’t have to be expensive things, just something that brings nature into your home,” Jacques says.

Lead by example

The dog-friendly Roar offices have also prioritised spaciousness, says Athreya. “We have a converted warehouse, so we have 10-metre-high ceilings. That’s obviously not something you can retroactively fit into your office space or home, but that feeling of spaciousness really does help.”

There’s also a lot of natural light, she adds. “The facades of these warehouses have corrugated boards, so we removed a whole panel to let natural light flood the space, which is important for the job that the team is doing.”

Sit-stand desks have been incorporated and the team also has access to a nap room. “Having a 10 or 20-minute nap in the afternoon has been shown to boost productivity,” says Athreya.

Yet, while it’s great to have facilities such as these in offices, employees also need to be secure enough in their job to use them, otherwise there's no point, she adds.

“Pallavi is the first person who will go in and use the nap room,” she says with a laugh.