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Cognitive health in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) workplaces can be supported by combining healthier work practices with better physical conditions, but the available projects do not prove that one design feature or product improves cognition on its own. The strongest practical approach is to treat training, workload, breaks, focus space, daylight, views, acoustics, greenery and indoor-air quality as parts of one workplace strategy, then measure outcomes locally.
Two AEC examples illustrate the distinction. HKS studied an organizational brain-health program with employees, while a PLP Architecture pilot examined a package of biophilic changes in a small London office. Their methods, outcomes and evidence strength differ, so they should inform workplace decisions rather than be treated as a head-to-head competition.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Why is cognitive health becoming an AEC workplace issue?
Cognitive health covers the ability to focus, learn, remember, make decisions, regulate attention and recover from mental effort. In AEC firms, those abilities affect design coordination, safety judgments, documentation, site communication, cost control and the quality of complex problem-solving. Work that is fragmented by constant messages, poorly planned meetings, glare, noise, uncomfortable temperatures or stale air can make concentration harder even when employees are highly skilled.
The issue is also larger than individual productivity. Burnout, chronic stress and avoidable cognitive overload can contribute to errors, absenteeism and staff turnover. A workplace response therefore needs both organizational and environmental measures: how work is scheduled and managed, and what the office makes easy or difficult.
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The evidence in the two AEC examples is promising but limited. HKS reported changes after a structured brain-health program. The PLP-related pilot, summarized by horticulture company Benholm, reported positive reactions to an immersive biophilic workspace. Neither project establishes that a particular plant, color, window or training exercise will produce the same result in every office.
What did HKS and the Center for BrainHealth study?
HKS partnered with the University of Texas at Dallas Center for BrainHealth on a workplace program that combined online training, think tanks and daily brain exercises. HKS announced in May 2022 that nearly 200 employees were participating in a six-month program within a broader three-year longitudinal effort involving multiple organizations. The design was aimed at helping employees apply brain-health strategies in their work, not simply at changing the office interior.
In its 2023 report, HKS described 193 employees taking part in assessment, training and application activities. The report also described workplace research in five “Living Labs,” where teams could examine how brain-health practices operated in real work settings. HKS reported a statistically significant increase in the BrainHealth Index among individuals who went through the brain-health training.
The report’s summary includes the sentence, “The brain can be trained.” That is HKS’s wording for the program’s premise and reported findings, not a universal guarantee for every workplace intervention.
HKS’s 2025 Global Impact Report later stated that the six-month study involved nearly 200 employees and reported a 17.5% decrease in multitasking. It also said that more frequent brain breaks were linked to greater well-being and task completion. These figures should be read as HKS-reported outcomes from a program that combined several strategies. They do not isolate the effect of one exercise, break schedule or office feature.
What did the PLP biophilic-design pilot change?
The PLP Architecture project took a physical-environment approach. The original Building Design + Construction report described a planned eight-week pilot in a London office. The scenarios introduced combinations of plants, natural light, outside views, natural patterns and colors, and sounds from nature. Six participants were expected to complete questionnaires after each scenario change.
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Benholm’s later summaries describe a six-participant pilot in a 30-square-metre office space. The company reported a 200% increase in well-being and environmental value compared with a normal workspace, and said the most immersive scenario received the highest valuation. Those are the participating horticulture company’s reported results, not an independent estimate of a general cognitive effect.
The interpretation matters. Plants were one component of a package that also changed light, views, visual cues and sound. With six participants, an eight-week duration and multiple features changing together, the pilot cannot show that plants alone caused the reported response. It is best treated as an exploratory case study that can generate design hypotheses for a larger, controlled evaluation.
How do the two AEC approaches compare?
They address related problems through different levers. HKS focused on individual practices and organizational support; the PLP pilot focused on the sensory and spatial setting. The available reports do not compare them directly or establish which is more effective.
| Project | Intervention | Participants and duration | Reported outcome | Evidence qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HKS and Center for BrainHealth | Online training, think tanks, daily brain exercises, application of strategies and Living Labs | 193 HKS employees reported in 2023; six-month program within a larger three-year longitudinal effort | HKS reported a statistically significant increase in BrainHealth Index; its 2025 report reported a 17.5% decrease in multitasking and links between brain breaks, well-being and task completion | Company-reported results from a multi-part program; effects are not attributable to one tactic |
| PLP Architecture and Benholm | Plants, daylight, outside views, natural patterns and colors, and nature sounds introduced in workspace scenarios | Six participants; eight-week pilot in a 30-square-metre London office | Benholm reported a 200% increase in well-being and environmental value versus a normal workspace; the most immersive scenario had the highest valuation | Small exploratory pilot with several features changing together; no independent larger replication established in the available material |
The useful comparison is not a ranking. It is a decision question: does a particular problem call for changes to work habits, to the physical setting, or to both? A firm with meeting overload may start with scheduling and focus norms. A space with glare, noise and no restorative area may need environmental work. A major fit-out can address both while preserving a plan to measure what changed.
Which workplace practices can protect attention and reduce burnout?
Start with practices that give employees more control over mental demand. They are usually less expensive than construction and can be introduced before a relocation or fit-out.
- Protect uninterrupted focus periods. Establish team norms for when messages, calls and meetings can interrupt concentrated work. Use shared calendars or status signals so “available” does not mean continuously interruptible.
- Reduce unnecessary multitasking. Consolidate project information, clarify decision owners and avoid requiring staff to monitor several channels for the same task. HKS’s reported multitasking decrease should be understood as a program outcome, not as a guaranteed result of one software or policy change.
- Build in recovery. Encourage short brain breaks between demanding tasks and avoid scheduling meetings back-to-back all day. HKS reported links between more frequent brain breaks, well-being and task completion; firms should still determine an appropriate rhythm for their work and safety requirements.
- Make workload visible. Project leaders can review deadline collisions, late design changes and staffing pinch points before they become individual “resilience” problems. Cognitive-health programs should not be used to shift responsibility for excessive workloads onto employees.
- Support social connection without forcing constant interaction. Provide places for informal exchange and mentoring, while retaining settings where someone can work quietly. Different tasks and neurodivergent preferences require choice rather than one ideal layout.
- Train managers. Supervisors should recognize fatigue, clarify priorities and model breaks. Training is more credible when schedules, staffing and performance expectations support the behaviors being requested.
How can office design support cognitive health?
Design cannot guarantee better cognition, but it can remove common sources of distraction and give people useful choices. The PLP pilot suggests a way to test a coordinated environmental experience rather than treating greenery as a standalone cure.
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Provide visual and sensory variety with control
Daylight and outside views can make a space feel less enclosed, while natural patterns, colors and planting may provide visual relief from screens. Use blinds, dimming and task lighting so employees can manage glare and contrast. Keep nature sounds optional: an audio feature that helps one person may distract another.
Design for focus, collaboration and recovery
Separate noisy circulation and social areas from concentration zones where possible. Include small rooms or booths for calls, but do not make them the only places available for focused work. A recovery area can be as simple as a quiet corner with comfortable seating and a view; its purpose is to make a short pause practical, not to create a themed wellness room.
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Fresh air, filtration, temperature control and humidity management are basic workplace conditions. They should be handled through building services, maintenance and occupancy planning, not inferred from the presence of plants. The cited PLP project changed several environmental factors together and did not isolate air quality as a cause of its reported outcome.
Use greenery realistically
Choose plants that suit available daylight, irrigation, maintenance capacity and allergy considerations. Locate them where they will not obstruct egress, damage finishes or create trip hazards. A planting plan is a facilities responsibility as well as an interior-design decision. The Benholm result does not establish that buying one consumer plant will improve cognitive health.
How should an AEC firm implement a cognitive-health plan?
A staged process prevents a wellness concept from becoming an unfunded slogan.
- Define the work problem. Use staff interviews, project retrospectives, absence patterns and space observations to identify whether the main issue is interruption, noise, lack of privacy, poor comfort, meeting load or insufficient recovery time.
- Set a small number of measures. Combine a work outcome, a people outcome and an environmental check. Examples include rework or coordination delays, perceived ability to focus, meeting load, break-taking, noise complaints, temperature complaints and reported glare.
- Map constraints. Review lease limits, fire and accessibility requirements, security, acoustic separation, mechanical capacity, cleaning, plant maintenance and the needs of site-based staff who are not in the office every day.
- Pilot reversible changes first. Test meeting-free blocks, focus-room booking rules, movable screens, lighting adjustments or a maintained planting zone before committing to major construction. Document what changed so results are interpretable.
- Offer choice rather than a single prescription. Provide more than one setting for concentrated work, collaboration and decompression. Explain how to use each space and how teams will protect it from becoming overflow meeting space.
- Review after a defined period. Compare results with the baseline, ask who benefited and who did not, and check for unintended effects such as reduced team contact, inequitable access to quiet rooms or higher maintenance costs.
- Scale only what is supportable. If a change helps, assign an owner, budget and maintenance plan. If the result is mixed, refine the intervention instead of claiming a universal cognitive benefit.
What should designers measure in a post-occupancy review?
A useful review combines subjective and operational information. Short anonymous surveys can ask whether people can focus, recover after demanding tasks, control noise and lighting, and find an appropriate place for collaboration. Keep questions specific to the workplace rather than asking employees to diagnose their own cognitive health.
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Operational indicators might include meeting hours, after-hours work, project rework, safety observations, absenteeism or retention. These measures are affected by many factors, so they should be interpreted alongside a record of staffing, project phase, deadlines and policy changes. A before-and-after comparison without a baseline or a plausible comparison group can create a misleading sense of precision.
Protect privacy. Report aggregated results, explain who can see responses and avoid using wellness surveys as performance evaluations. Employees need a credible way to report discomfort, sensory overload or lack of access to preferred settings without being labeled unproductive.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What do these studies not prove?
They do not prove that a particular office layout, plant species, natural sound, break interval or training exercise will improve cognition for every employee. They also do not show that the HKS program and the PLP pilot produce equivalent outcomes, because they measured different things under different conditions.
HKS’s BrainHealth Index and multitasking figures belong to its reported program context. The PLP figures come from a six-person pilot described by Benholm. Neither source, as presented here, supplies independent replication in a larger controlled study that would justify a general percentage claim for AEC offices.
That limitation does not make the projects irrelevant. It changes how they should be used: as examples for forming a hypothesis, designing a pilot, and deciding what to measure. The responsible claim is that workplace practices and environmental conditions may support healthier ways of working, while the size and durability of any effect must be established locally.
What is the practical takeaway for AEC leaders?
Begin with the conditions that employees can actually control: protected focus time, realistic workloads, useful breaks, clear priorities and managers who model them. Pair those practices with an office that offers daylight or views where feasible, comfortable air and temperature, acoustic protection, greenery and spaces for both interaction and retreat. Treat the HKS and PLP examples as complementary prompts, not proof that one intervention wins.
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For a new build or renovation, include cognitive-health objectives in the brief, assign facilities and project leadership responsibility, and budget for post-occupancy evaluation. For an existing office, reversible changes can reveal which problems matter before capital work begins. The goal is not to market a wellness feature; it is to make sustained, focused and recoverable work easier to do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does adding office plants alone improve cognitive performance?
The available PLP evidence cannot answer that question. Plants were introduced alongside daylight, views, natural patterns, colors and nature sounds, so the reported response belongs to the combined scenario rather than to greenery in isolation.
Can a small AEC firm use these ideas without redesigning its office?
Yes. Start with protected focus periods, fewer unnecessary meetings, clearer communication channels and scheduled recovery breaks. A short survey and a review of interruption patterns can identify whether a physical change is needed before spending on construction.
How can project teams include cognitive health in a construction brief?
Specify outcomes and operating requirements instead of promising a health result: glare control, acoustic separation, controllable lighting, fresh-air performance, quiet rooms, accessible planting and maintenance responsibilities. Add post-occupancy questions and a review date so the brief can be checked after handover.
What is the difference between cognitive health and a workplace wellness perk?
Cognitive health concerns sustained attention, decision-making, learning and recovery within real work conditions. A perk is optional and isolated; a credible cognitive-health plan also addresses workload, scheduling, managerial behavior, environmental comfort and equitable access to suitable spaces.
