The New York Times has spoken. Aquariums are in!
I know that the world, and particularly the world of workplace design and management faces many challenges at the moment, but I can’t help relishing this news about glass boxes filled with fish and water.
On October 12, Candace Jackson (“High-End Design Comes to the Fish Tank,” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/realestate/high-end-home-aquariums.html) reported that “Luxury home aquariums now can rival installations at public aquariums in size and scale, and they come with hefty price tags.”
Jackson’s article focuses on in-home aquariums that are quite expensive, but psychologists have lots of positive things to say about fish tanks, wherever they are, even if they’re more petite than the ones Jackson discusses.
Looking at fish swimming around behind glass helps us relax, de-stress and refresh mentally, the same way that looking at nature scenes through a window (or in art or photos) or fire (yikes!) does. All three of these sorts of visual experiences are effortlessly fascinating to us humans, they capture and hold our attention in a way that gives the part of our brain that gets worn out via focus and concentration a chance to recover after it becomes exhausted. That means looking into fish tanks can help us regain our ability to solve problems and think creatively – and restore our good humor – swimming fish banish grumpiness, at least for a while.
If the aquarium’s systems sound like a burbling brook it will refresh and revitalize anyone within earshot, even if they can’t see the tank.
Fish tanks add gentle movement to a space, an often-overlooked tenet of biophilic design—and biophilic design does tremendous, positive things for workers and the organizations that employ them.
Aquariums can cost a lot or a little. Either way they have a meaningful, positive effect on our well-being and professional performance whether stocked with expensive fish and exotic plants or much more common life forms. Add some fish and their watery world to workplaces you design or manage – even if you have to reinforce the floor to keep it from collapsing under the weight of the water in the tank – you’ll be glad you did and so will your clients.
Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from recent studies are integrated with classic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Information, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.