Research study

The positive impact ofNatureConnect in meetingrooms with no natural daylight
July 2023

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

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Impact of NatureConnect in Edge West: Boosting
occupancy rates in meeting rooms
Study performed by Samantha Peeters, researcher at Signify.
NatureConnect has been designed to mimic natural patterns of daylight in order to reconnect
us to the outside world. The mimicking of the sky/daylight and receiving enough light especiallybecomes relevant when a room does not have daylight access, especially because it is knownthat receiving enough light during the day is important for our well-being¹ ⁵.

Receiving enough light during the day is important for ourwell-being.

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

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Edge West Amsterdam Meeting Rooms

Edge West is designed to create a biophilic and sustainable office environment. Currently it
is occupied by 7 tenants who all have their private areas. Moreover, there are also in total 22
meeting rooms that are shared between the tenants. Located on the ground floor, there are
two identical large meeting rooms without daylight or a view outside. To potentially improvethe conditions in the meeting room, NatureConnect was installed in one of the meeting rooms(Room 2) and compared to Room 1 which is compliant to regular office lighting standard of 500
lx on the horizontal plane.

Figure 1. Room 1 with original lighting

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

Figure 2. Room 2 with NatureConnect installed3

For the comparison between the meeting rooms, the focus is on light at the eye (vertical exposure), since this is the most relevant measure when focusing on effects related to, for example, alertness and well-being.
Table 1. Light exposure at the eye on both meeting rooms 500 lx on the horizontal plane.

Average light exposure at eye in lx
Average light exposure at eye in lx mEDI

Room 1Room 265 lx

536 lx

40 lx m-EDI

505 lx m-EDI

When comparing the vertical light exposures between the two meeting rooms, it becomes
clear there is quite a large difference. In Room 1 the average amount of light at the eye was
65 lx, while in the room with NatureConnect installed this was on average 536 lx. Importantis also the differences between the meeting rooms in terms of melanopic lux (blue-enrichedlight), since this quantifies how light can potentially affect our biological clock and energy
levels. In Room 1 the exposure at the eye is on average 40 lx mEDI, while in Room 2 with NatureConnect installed this became 505 lx mEDI on average, which is well above the tier 2 WELL
standard of 250 lx mEDI for circadian lighting.
In order to measure the impact of NatureConnect on room occupancy, 16 weeks of meetingroom data was analyzed (8 weeks before and 8 weeks after), which entails 333 meetings forboth rooms combined. Table 1 gives an overview of this data.
Table 2. Average use per day expressed in hours in before and after situation.

Average use per day (hrs)beforeafter

Room 1

4.67

4.46

Room 2

4.94

6.60

Visually inspecting Table 2 already gives indications that Room 2 was on average booked almost
2 hours more per day in the after situation (after installation of NatureConnect). Moreover,a Wilcoxon test confirmed that the difference between the usage of the rooms was indeed
significant (p <.01), confirming that the room with NatureConnect was booked for more hours
than the regular room. Furthermore, it was confirmed with the same test that before installation of NatureConnect there was no difference in number of booked hours between the rooms(p <.01). Comparing only the data of Room 2 in a before and after situation also confirms theroom was used for more hours on average after installation of NatureConnect (p <.01). Additionally about 7 times more full day bookings were made for the room with NatureConnect.

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

4Expectations based on earlier studies
Based on an earlier study performed by Signify using NatureConnect in a mock-up office setting, it was shown through post-study interviews that participants appreciated the biophilic
aspects and viewed the energize setting as activating⁶. This was also backed up by statisticalanalyses which had shown that under NatureConnect they were better able to combat thenatural decline in alertness, especially in the afternoon. Moreover certain participants (overthe age of 41) felt more vital. If indeed this will also be the case for a meeting room, it will not
only increase the usage of such a room, but employees will leave their meetings with an improved well-being.

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

5Bibliography
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6. S.T. Peeters, D. Aliakseyeu, “Bringing naturallight into the office. The effect of NatureConnect versus standard office lighting on
correlates of alertness and performance,”
Signify, unpublished, 2023.

NatureConnect - Meeting room study, July 2023

6© 2024 Signify Holding. All rights reserved. The information provided herein is subject to change, without notice. Signify
does not give any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information included hereinand shall not be liable for any action in reliance thereon. The information presented in this document is not intended as
any commercial offer and does not form part of any quotation or contract, unless otherwise agreed by Signify.
NatureConnect - Meeting Allroom
study, July
2023 by Signify Holding or their respective owners
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