Influence of functional boundary for corridor spaces in elderly facilities in China

ABSTRACT

It is crucial to explore whether optimized design spaces can have a positive impact on the emotions of elderly people. Based on the problems in the space of elderly facilities, this study proposes a ‘Functional Boundary’ optimization design method. The effect of this method on the emotions of elderly people is measured through subjective evaluation and physiological measurements. First, two models were established: Model A was based on the most typical corridor, and Model B was an optimized design of Model A by using the ‘Functional Boundary’; a walking-through video was created for each model. Second, while the subjects were watching the walking-through video, their Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Electroencephalogram (EEG) were collected, which was followed by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and satisfaction surveys. The analysis of STAI, HRV, EEG showed statistically significant differences between Model A and Model B, indicating that ‘Functional Boundary’ is effective in improving the performance of corridor space. Additionally, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed the high correlation between satisfaction and comprehensive. Therefore, this study is expected to make an important contribution to the development of elderly facilities by exploring how to improve the emotional and psychological state of the elderly through environmental optimization.

KEYWORDS:

• Elderly facility
• functional boundary
• electroencephalogram
• heart rate variability
• state-trait anxiety inventory
• corridor space design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data presented in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author contributions

Keming Hou: Conceptualization, Resources, Writing – review and editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Xi Guan: Methodology, Software, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Visualization. Haining Wang: Formal analysis, Writing – review and editing. Songtao Hu: Validation, Resources. Mingli Lu: Methodology, Writing – review and editing. Nian Liu: Data curation.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Qingdao Innovation Centre for CIM + Urban Regeneration (protocol code August 10th, 2022).

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 51908301 and 51908111, Social Sciences Planning Projects of Shandong Province, grant number 21CSHJ06, Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, grant number ZR2019PEE034.