study summary / 007

Can campus courtyard design influence stress recovery?

A virtual-reality experiment finds differences in skin conductance and perceived restorativeness, but not all physiological measures.

Planting design involves both visual order and complexity. Gao and colleagues tested how different combinations affected recovery after a brief stress task.

The study

282 students at one Chinese university were randomized across 10 virtual courtyard conditions: nine combinations of vegetation coherence and complexity, plus a condition without vegetation. A five-minute stress task preceded five minutes of recovery.

The findings

Skin-conductance recovery and perceived restorativeness differed across conditions. Heart rate and RMSSD, a heart-rate-variability measure, did not differ significantly. Coherence and complexity affected perceived restorativeness, while their interaction affected skin-conductance recovery; neither alone showed a significant physiological main effect.

Architectural interpretation

The organization of planting deserves investigation alongside the amount of greenery. The experiment does not establish a single courtyard design that reliably improves every stress measure.

Limits and conclusion

The exposure was brief and virtual, with a narrow student sample. Skin conductance, subjective ratings and cardiac measures capture different aspects of recovery. Real courtyards and longer-term health outcomes require separate testing.