6.26.09 | Minneapolis, MN | InformeDesign released its latest research summaries.

Supporting Active Living in the Workplace
The study examined the relationship between the employees'
perceptions of their work environment and participation in physical
activity. Self-efficacy (i.e., the belief that one can accomplish a
particular task) was investigated as playing a mediating role between the two.
Key Concepts:
- The perceived level of support for physical activity provided by the
workplace was not related to the reported amount of participation in
leisure physical activity and was only marginally related to the
amount of workplace physical activity (e.g., walking to and from work).
- The relationship between the perceived physical environment and
workplace physical activity participation was partially impacted by
employee's level of self-efficacy.

What is "Good" Hotel Design?
This referenced position paper examined the relationship between
hotel profitability and design
Key Concepts:
- Efficient design eliminates square footage unnecessary to the hotel's
desired image or the functional use of the hotel, thereby reducing
construction costs. Efficient space planning may allow for increased
square footage for spaces that are important to guests but may rank
as a lower priority during programming.
- A 5% variation in gross square footage for a 150-180 room, mid-market
hotel due to the efficiency of space planning resulted in a 585,000
pound cost difference.

Noise and Vibration Effects on Stress and Task Performance
Two experiments investigated the effects of noise and vibration on
individual stress levels and task performance
Key Concepts:
- Noise and vibration exposure were associated with increased
perceptions of stress and task difficulty; however, no significant
effects were found for objective measurements of stress and task performance.
- Subjects highly sensitive to noise reported more subjective stress
and task difficulty when exposed to noise than less sensitive
subjects, although neither increased saliva cortisol nor increased
task errors were found.
- In both experiments, noise exposure increased the amount of perceived
stress in test subjects, while vibration was only associated with
increased perceived stress in Experiment 2.
Combined noise and vibration did not increase stress or decrease
performance more than either setting individually.