Well you’d be wrong: a substantial body of research -from epidemiological to ethnographic, from lab-based to real world research- has demonstrated that exposure to nature promotes health, wellbeing and performance. Femke Beute, a PhD candidate at HTI, is doing research in exactly this domain of ‘mental restoration’.

With a group of students we put theory to the test and visited unsuspecting TU/e employees in their offices. We recorded the view from their office window as well as the distance between their chair and the window, asked personnel to fill out a questionnaire and had them perform a short attention task. First result: those sitting closer to a window reported better physical health. Daylight is one of our most important drugs, but more about this in a later column. What we also learned: the greener the view, the higher your concentration.

Perhaps TU/e wants to project a ‘hightech’ image, but now would also be a good time to embrace the natural qualities of our campus. Do it now! No more steel and concrete, away with silvered windows and formal squares. I want to chew on a grass haulm, smell the flowers, find shelter beneath the branches of a leafy tree.