Enriched Environments: Why Sensory-Rich Spaces Support the Mind and Body

Aesthetic experience is not only emotional. It also influences behaviour.

In neuroscience, the idea of an enriched environment refers to surroundings that offer sensory, social, cognitive and physical stimulation. In Your Brain on Art, Magsamen and Ross reference research suggesting that enriched environments can support the brain’s capacity to adapt and change. This has been linked to neuroplasticity, including increased neural connections, dendritic branching and, in some studies, changes to grey matter.

For design, the important takeaway is not that a beautiful room instantly changes the brain. It is that the brain is responsive to the richness, complexity and meaning of its surroundings.

In research on architectural interiors, Coburn et al. describe one class of aesthetic response scales as encompassing psychological measures of behaviour, movement and motivation. Within this category, they focus on three behavioural measures: interest, approachability and explorability (Coburn et al., 2020).

These measures are especially relevant when thinking about enriched environments.

An enriched interior does not simply look more layered or expressive. It can invite a person to engage with the space. It may encourage them to move through it, pause, look more closely, explore a detail, approach an artwork, gather with others or feel curious about what is beyond the next threshold.

This is important because highly sterile or visually flat environments may be efficient, but they often offer very little behavioural invitation. There may be nowhere for the eye to rest, nothing to discover and no sense of spatial curiosity.

By contrast, artful and enriched spaces can create moments of interest and approachability through:

• artwork and objects that invite interpretation

• layered textures and materials

• thresholds, niches and framed views

• variation in scale, light and shadow

• visual rhythm and pattern

• spaces that support movement, pause and discovery

This does not mean a space needs to be visually busy. The goal is not stimulation for its own sake. The value of an enriched environment lies in its ability to balance calm with curiosity, and order with discovery.

In a built environment, this might look like a corridor that becomes a gallery rather than a blank passage. It might be a workplace breakout area that feels inviting rather than leftover. It might be a hospitality interior that encourages guests to move deeper into the space. It might be a home that reveals texture, artwork, light and memory gradually, rather than presenting everything at once.

When design supports interest, approachability and explorability, it shifts the interior from a passive backdrop to an active part of human experience. The space begins to do more than accommodate behaviour. It gently encourages connection, curiosity, movement and engagement.

This knowledge has particular relevance in education and aged care design, where the built environment can directly influence attention, confidence, independence and wellbeing. In schools, enriched environments can support curiosity and engagement through colour, texture, display, natural light, flexible learning zones, artwork, sensory variation and spaces that encourage movement, pause and discovery.

In aged care settings, these principles can be used to create environments that feel warm, legible and emotionally supportive, with clear wayfinding, familiar materials, meaningful artwork, connection to gardens, areas for social interaction and quiet spaces for retreat. In both contexts, the goal is not to overstimulate, but to create spaces that support the brain and body through comfort, orientation, memory, connection and meaningful engagement.

When design supports interest, approachability and explorability, it shifts the interior from a passive backdrop to an active part of human experience. The space begins to do more than accommodate behaviour. It gently encourages connection, curiosity, movement and engagement.

References

Ross, I., & Magsamen, S. (2023). Your brain on art: How the arts transform us. Random House.

Coburn, A., Vartanian, O., Kenett, Y. N., Nadal, M., Hartung, F., Hayn-Leichsenring, G., Navarrete, G., González-Mora, J. L., & Chatterjee, A. (2020). Psychological and neural responses to architectural interiors. Cortex, 126, 217–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.01.009