Our strong understanding of theory of architecture, behaviour and the moods of building users makes it far easier to predict successes and failures. This can mean a real advantage for those businesses who are willing to take the plunge and invest in workplaces, retail spaces and other commercial typologies that are designed for purpose on both a functional and psychological level.

Commercial Architecture design is usually driven by function. Businesses look at activities and flows and get their designers to concentrate on these when they create new workplaces. Commercial architecture isn’t only functional though – it’s also the place where design psychology is most developed – shops are designed to improve spending and offices to improve focus. Design proposals are almost always couched in rhetoric about improving sales, creativity, collaboration, happiness, reducing absenteeism etc. But few design strategies are well known, most are very ad-hoc and most proven not by success, but by failures that break businesses (only the fittest survive). But the propensity for new ideas to fail inhibits them from ever manifesting in built form. Clients and architects alike get risk-averse so even the best of designs are likely to be compromised from the start and new ideas rarely get built.

At Psychological Design we take a different approach. Our strong understanding of theory of architecture, behaviour and the moods of building users makes it far easier to predict successes and failures. This can mean a real advantage for those businesses who are willing to take the plunge and invest in workplaces, retail spaces and other commercial typologies that are designed for purpose on both a functional and psychological level.