ABSTRACT
The phase of COVID-19 has put the human population within the confines of the four walls. The privileged ones with a garden and a terrace might have had some respite, but the packed-up mass in the tall towers of the urban areas did not have anything but a window to feel a sense of continuity with the natural environment. This study is based on the psychological impact of windows on the residential students of NIT, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh during the testing time of COVID-19. The overall satisfaction of students in terms of depression, seasonal affective disorder, physical aspects, and luminous comfort is determined with the help of questionnaires. Further, experiments for obtaining the most preferred views through windows were performed by taking the students to similar rooms with different views. During the COVID-19 situation, the lack of socialization led to a view preference for humans and human activities, unlike the previous papers where only the natural views devoid of humans were preferred. Later, a task was given to the same students in order to compare the most preferred views with unfavorable views for attention restoration. For this, the Digit Span test, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, and Proofreading Task were performed once in the morning after breakfast and again in the evening when the students returned from their college. The results showed that the students with the preferred views could respond to the test better.
