What does clean smell like?

Photo: NYC Dept. of Design and Construction

Many, many thanks to Peter Sansone, garden supervisor at the Queens Botanic Garden, for the terrific tour of their Visitor Center. Designed by BKSK Architects and completed in 2007, it was regarded at that time to be the greenest building in New York. (link will take you to New York Times article)

Peter showed our SIE Graduate Seminar class an array of green features, from the planted roof down to the the geothermal heating and cooling system that reaches hundreds of feet under the building.

 

Along the way we made a stop in the room where maintenance supplies are kept. Peter spoke about cleaning protocols in the building, and mentioned that odorless cleaners tended to make people think that surfaces had not really been cleaned. Consequently, scented cleaners are used in the building.


This was particularly interesting in light of the discussion in our Environmental Behaviorial Research class. I did some research and found a write up of a study on the behavioral effects of scented cleaners. It seems that the smell of cleaners may somehow cause people to be more tidy and charitable. See pdf of article.
Maybe I should try some in my coffee.