Text by Mari Keskiivari and Kanon Nakayama
Photo: Tuula Jyske
This summer marked the fifth and last stage of the Healing Interiors pilot research, which aims to investigate the psychophysiological aspects and perceived wellness of the visitors staying at the Hyytiälä Forest Station in Juupajoki. Between 2023-2025, we have had the pleasure to work with the UH forestry students who have taken part in the pilot while completing their field courses/studies in Hyytiälä.
The Healing Interiors pilot combines both quantitative and qualitative approaches: the participants’ physiological wellness and wellbeing were measured with smart rings, whereas the perceived wellness and wellbeing were recorded using questionnaires that consisted of standard psychometric tests and questions regarding the built environment. In addition to these individual metrics, we conducted focus group interviews, where the participants had the opportunity to further reflect on their experiences of the Hyytiälä Forest Station.
To gain first-hand experience of the Forest Station and its built environment and nature, I spent one week in Hyytiälä during which I interviewed the student participants and familiarized myself with the current on-site research projects. Besides conducting the group interviews, I joined forces with a Master’s student Kanon Nakayama, who’s completing her exchange studies here at the University of Helsinki. During the week in Hyytiälä we got the chance to follow the forestry students’ field course activities, such as thinning, seedling stand management, manual sawmilling, and quality grading of timber. The last two mentioned topics were taught by group member, university lecturer Juha Rikala.
As a part of Kanon’s exchange studies, she conducted a research experiment in Hyytiälä. Her research topic is the perception of wood.
“Due to its environmental benefits, wood is increasingly used in construction and is generally known for its comfortable feel. However, the exact reasons behind this perception of comfort are not yet fully understood. Our study dives into this topic by focusing on the senses of touch and sight. We aimed to investigate the concept of ‘woodiness’ to identify the specific factors that contribute to this feeling of comfort”, Kanon explains.
We conducted experiments to explore how people perceive for example “woodiness" and "comfort" by having the participants interact with various wood samples. The experiment had three distinct parts: a touch-only condition, a vision-only condition, and a combined touch-and-vision condition. Each session involved participants touching and looking at a range of different wood samples. Looking ahead, our plan is to continue the research back in Helsinki and recruit more participants from the University of Helsinki to investigate how wood perception differs between people from Japanese and Finnish cultural backgrounds.