The effects of interior design on users' psychological health under isolated, confined, and extreme environments: A systematic review

What the study found

Identifies recurring interior-design elements associated with psychological outcomes under unusually constrained conditions.

Limitations

Extreme environments differ from ordinary hospitality, workplace and residential settings; primary evidence is heterogeneous.

Neurodesign interpretation

Extreme environments amplify design variables that ordinary settings can hide. They are useful for identifying which spatial conditions become biologically costly over time.

Possible design implications

Use as a stress-test literature for long-duration occupancy, where control and sensory monotony may matter more.

Why it stays in the corpus

Retain for testing which environmental mechanisms become more visible under prolonged confinement.

Study design

Systematic review

Population

Occupants in isolated, confined and extreme environments

Setting

Extreme and confined settings

Field

Extreme-environment design

Mechanism

Stress, mood, psychological resilience

Spatial variable

Spatial design, lighting, nature, physical conditions, aesthetics

Keywords

confined environments, isolation, interior design, psychological health