The NeuroDesign/NeuroArchitecture Index (NDIX): Development of a method to evaluate the impact of the built environment on health, cognitive performance, and wellbeing

The built environment shapes physical and mental health. In this paper we use the term mental health as an overarching construct, defined here as encompassing both cognitive performance and affective wellbeing, explored in relation to environmental factors. Evidence across neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and public health shows that spatial properties of our environment can modulate stress physiology, affect, attention, memory, and social cognition. Yet, no standardised instrument translates these multisensory dynamics into measures that quantify environmental qualities, enabling linking them to context-specific outcomes. Certification schemes (e.g., WELL, LEED, BREEAM) have advanced practice, but do not directly measure how specific spatial or contextual features impact psychology or physiology. Here, we introduce the NeuroDesign/NeuroArchitecture Index (NDIX), a theoretically grounded framework for evaluating how the built environment impacts mental health. The NDIX operationalises six domains; safety and accessibility, cognitive capacity, offering possibilities for sensory experiences, emotional states, social experiences, and naturalness. It integrates a domain-referenced self-report of user experience with standardised profiling of environmental features, generating domain specific and overall percentage scores for research and practice. The first pilot in a controlled indoor environment showed feasibility and theory-consistent sensitivity, providing initial support for the NDIX framework. Future research will extend validation across office, educational, and urban contexts and incorporate biomarkers (e.g. from wearables, neuroimaging).