FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Sky Factory
David A. Navarrete+1 641-472-1747 x213
davidn@skyfactory.com
www.SkyFactory.com

Luminous SkyCeilings are the only
research-verified virtual skylights withpeer-reviewed published studies.

Patient Outcomes are Looking Up:
Luminous SkyCeilings Reduce Acute Stress by Half
September 21, 2015 – The October issue of the Health Environments Research &Design Journal features a new study by Texas Tech University in collaboration
with Covenant Health and the Sky Factory that examined the positive impact ofLuminous SkyCeilings on acute stress and anxiety in a controlled clinical setting.
The paper, The Impact ofSimulated Nature on Patient
Outcomes: A Study of Photographic
Sky Compositions, examined thebehavioral and clinical impact ofSky Factory’s biophilic illusions
in a medical-surgical inpatient
unit at Covenant Health Hospitalin Lubbock, TX.
The eight-month long study
analyzed data from 181 subjects
Patient room Luminous SkyCeiling at Covenant Health.

who were assigned to identicalrooms where the only

environmental variable separating the control and the experimental units was a24 sq. ft. Luminous SkyCeiling directly above the bed.
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“Only a handful of studies since Ulrich’s original window study over 30 years
ago have set out to measure and quantify the difference a simulated natureintervention can make in a patient room environment,” says Dr. Pati, leadresearcher and one of the co-authors of the study.
“We are the first to study and quantify a simulated view to nature designed to beperceived—not as an artifact—but as an architectural feature of the room,” says
Dr. Pati.
The single-blind study found adifference in Acute Stress bymore than half (53.40%) and adifference in Anxiety by morethan a third (34.79%) inpatients assigned toexperimental rooms where theLuminous SkyCeiling over the patient bed. Diagram
courtesy of Texas Tech University’s Dept. of Design.

virtual skylights were placed.
“The Open Sky Compositions

used in this study are the same photographic images used in the fMRI study that
uncovered the neural correlates of nature stimuli,” adds Dr. Pati. Described by
the research team as a pioneering effort in neuro-architecture, Texas Tech’s fMRI
study earned the Design & Health International Academy Award for BestInternational Research Project (2014).
“Whereas the first study found that the Open Sky Compositions, relative to otherpositive images—including nature images, uniquely engaged areas of the brain
involved in spatial cognition, in this study we sought to quantify the benefits inthe patient environment,” added Dr. Pati.
The Open Sky Compositions used in the design of Luminous SkyCeilings are part ofan artistic framework called Open Skies Image Technology. This three-dimensional
approach marries visual content with architectural context—along with +20
design parameters—creating a genuine illusion of nature. Chief among these
attributes is the perceived Open Sky Zenith. This visual point of reference
reframes the observer’s cognitive map of the interior, giving rise to an organic
experience of vastness and palpable openness.
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“It was quite an ambitious study,” says Patricia Freier, MSN, RN-BC, RCIS,
Project Specialist QI at Covenant Health. “It involved the help of a lot ofdifferent nurses on that floor—dismissal nurses, charge nurses, getting all theconsent forms—but the comments from patients I think were most significant.

Covenant Health Hospital, floor layout. Diagram courtesy of Texas Tech University’s Dept. of Design.

“I had one patient on a particularly difficult stay who said she felt the SkyCeiling
made her feel closer to God,” adds Freier. “The results were definitely noticed byour hospital staff and leadership. Our two newest renovation projects haveincorporated the SkyCeilings in the new design. These floors were completely
gutted and the new design has SkyCeilings in every room.”
Sky Factory’s Luminous SkyCeilings are the only virtual skylights that have been
the subject of multiple peer-reviewed published studies, as well as the recipientof international architectural awards for their design.
“The purpose of our installations is to enrich and sustain life, and to succeed, we
design our Open Sky Compositions to convey the intangible healing beauty ofnature’s vastness,” says Skye Witherspoon, CEO of the Sky Factory.
“At the same time, we pursue the highest standards in research to quantify thepositive clinical benefits of our illusions of nature on patients, visitors, staff—
anyone occupying enclosed interiors without access to restorative views ofnature, which are so often absent in the built environment,” adds Witherspoon.
For more information visit www.SkyFactory.com.

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