The Visual Appeal and Natural Look of Wood

​People are innately drawn towards wood.

When Planet Ark presented survey participants with images of two rooms, one furnished with a wooden chair, desk, blinds and other items made from wood, while the other showed the same items made from plastic (shown on the right), two out of every three people said they preferred the wooden room.

This result occurred despite one in two people saying they were completely unaware that wood had associated health benefits.

​The images were taken from a study by David Fell (2010), which emphasized how Canadians have similar innate attitudes towards wood as well.

​In the Air

​Wood products within a room have been shown to improve indoor air quality by moderating humidity. This effect occurs due to wood absorbing and releasing moisture in order to maintain equilibrium with the surrounding air, known as the equilibrium moisture content. Wood therefore absorbs moisture from the air in humid conditions and releases moisture in dry conditions.

• . (reThink Wood, 2014).
• . (Forest Products Laboratory (U.S.), 1998)

The ability of wood to moderate humidity is a particularly important effect in workplaces. This is because productivity has been demonstrated to be reduced by an average of 12% in offices where staff are dissatisfied with the quality of the air.

• ​​Bergs, J. Effect of healthy workplaces on well-being and productivity of office workers. in (2002).​

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Table 1 (on the left) highlights the positive associations that wood induces in people, where an overwhelming 96% agreed that wood is ‘visually appealing’ and ‘has a natural look and feel’. Eight out of ten people also thought that wood is versatile, recyclable, renewable and long lasting. They appear to be less aware of the environmental benefits of wood, with only six out of ten survey participants understanding that wood stores carbon and creates less carbon emissions during production than steel and concrete.

​The positive views of wood continue even when compared to other material types (Table 2). Wood was viewed as the material that creates a natural look and feel, warm and cosy environments, is visually appealing and is nice to touch by nine out of ten people, and as being the most environmentally friendly by seven out of ten people. By comparison the second most popular material, brick, received an average of 34% less positive feedback. Plastic was seen as the ​cheapest material but it also scored lowest in four out of five categories related to creating pleasant surroundings and being environmentally friendly.

​​These survey results provide support to the empirical evidence discussed above. Even though many people don’t understand the health and wellbeing benefits of wood they instinctively react to the feelings of warmth and comfort it creates and its natural look and feel. An increasing body of research is beginning to show that being surrounded by wood at home, work or school has positive effects on the body, the brain and the environment.