The lack of haptically rich environments is emotionally desensitizing the people from their surroundings and stressing them out. The built environment is a primary factor in human stress, favoring visual stimuli over tactile and kinesthetic engagement, specifically in the typical office setting. By integrating haptically rich design elements in office spaces, the environment will enhance emotional well-being, encourage movement, and reduce workplace stress through human centric design. The relationship of the built environment and stress is examined in focusing on the necessity of mitigating environmental stressors through architectural elements such as texture, natural lighting, spatial layout, environmental control, and moments in physical space.

Integral to the research, a local office building is chosen for the proposed integration. Maintaining the pre-existing grid and onsite conditions, the circulatory activities of the office program will shape the spaces in the built environment.

Due to the haptic nature of the thesis, physically drawn sketches and built interventions will demonstrate the tactile process of how the user functions within their built environment. The interventions will comprise various specific spaces within the haptic office building, exploring the relationship between the structural framework and circulation patterns that formulate the interactive spaces.