An MRI suite can be intimidating to say the least. Most often it is a windowless, shielded room with large, high-tech scanning equipment. Additionally, a variety of true and embellished stories circulate surrounding the MRI procedure. One popular story is that it induces claustrophobia and creates uncomfortable and uncontrollable noise for long periods of time. Preconceived negative assumptions like these build up unnecessary stress for the patient for hours, or even days before entering the MRI environment. Conversely, creating a connection to nature in an MRI suite fosters an automatic sense of place, and time within the high-tech built environment.
Biophilic Engagement image requirements are unique for the MRI environment. The objective of a product like The Sky Factory’s Luminous SkyCeiling™ is to immediately engage patients entering the room and to re-connect them to the outside world in a simple, natural looking and believable way. To mitigate the windowless, high-tech environment they must now inhabit, maintaining one visual stimuli they can focus on provides comfort. Even when the SkyCeiling is not in direct sight, the skylight is still perceived to be there, as is the connection to the outside.
This association with nature through a credible illusion of the sky, has the power to elicit a specific psycho-physiological response in the patient by engaging areas of the brain involved in spatial recognition. The result is an actual experience of vastness created through an effective, visual illusion within a small room that has no natural physical connection to the outside world.
All SkyCeiling images are created through the diligent application of compositional elements such as light and its direction, a background of open blue sky, cloud formations from varying altitudes, and careful use of geographic vegetation. Sky Factory artists are able to communicate shape, form, volume, color and texture; depositing the mind’s eye in dramatically credible overhead skies.
The Sky Factory images are proprietary and created for the specific application of large-format photographic reproduction. All creative development, processing and reproduction specifications are based on 6500K color temperature throughout for near true-daylight representation.
There are so many applicable images for the MRI environment. However, evidence suggests “simple is better.” The less we make our mind struggle to reconcile a visual illusion, the more effective the illusion becomes and therefore the greater the Biophilic Engagement and connection with the outside world. Deep blue skies with multi-level clouds and little if any foliage, provide an ideal platform for an effective illusion of a skylight viewed from any angle or distance.
“The sky is always there for me, while my life has been going through many, many changes. When I look up at the sky, it gives me a nice feeling, like looking at an old friend.” — Yoko Ono