The green office : The influence of plants at the office, effectuating a more natural environment, on restoration from mental fatigue and stress as mediated by restorative characteristics among office employees.

Our performance-based society causes an increasing number of people to face work-related mental health issues like stress and mental fatigue. Hence, people face a need for restoration which can be fulfilled by using nature in environmental design. This study aims to establish a more natural office environment, through adding plants, to see if this brings restoration from mental fatigue and stress as mediated by restorative characteristics among office employees of Dura Vermeer Hengelo, a construction firm in the Netherlands. This research is conducted in the interdisciplinary field of environmental psychology and considers two influential theories in restorative environments research; Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Reduction Theory (SRT). Two separate studies were conducted, a survey and a field experiment, to test the restorative potential of a more natural office environment through plants. Psycho-physiological restoration was measured using a questionnaire and a wearable device (Empatica E4). Sensors and data loggers measured the indoor office climate. This research strengthens the scarce yet promising evidence that nature benefits human beings. Plants bring fascination, a sense of physically being away and better fulfil the needs of the individual. In turn, this resulted in a significant Environmental Preference for the meeting room with plants.