Indoor Biophilic Design for Higher Education Environments: A Systematic Mixed-Methods Review

Indoor biophilic design may support student well-being and learning, yet evidence relevant to higher education interior environments has not undergone systematic synthesis with formal quality appraisal. This systematic mixed-methods review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 and searched Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection. We screened 1601 unique database records and 59 supplementary records and included 63 empirical studies. We appraised study quality using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) 2018 and integrated findings through a convergent integrated approach. The evidence base was recent but uneven, with interior design elements forming the largest category; ambient conditions were largely decontextualized, and spatial attributes were dominated by window views. Perceptual outcomes were assessed most often and had the highest positive rate. Physiological and cognitive findings were less consistently positive, while cognition contained the most negative findings. Most studies adopted a restorative paradigm, whereas a protective paradigm appeared in 25% of studies but in two-thirds of those assessing cognition. Current evidence supports cautious use of indoor plants, green walls, and window views of nature in classrooms for perceptual and short-term affective benefits. It does not yet support transferable claims about sustained cognition, non-classroom settings, ambient conditions, or spatial attributes beyond window views.