Architecture Design Studio 4 | this-is-how-i-design

Architecture Design Studio 4 – ARC60206

Project 1: Furniture for an Elderly

Project 1 focused on user experience and required us to design a piece of furniture which was intended for a specific user based on an in-depth study of the user’s need. The users specified were to be elderly individuals. Furniture required for the elderly should be comfortable and easy to use. Therefore, this project called for the exploration of the idea of furniture designed for the elderly in meeting their day to day needs. The furniture designed needed to be lightweight and safe, with all mechanisms being simple and easy to operate while accommodating the user’s activities such as sitting, resting etc. Materials used were to be of importance too as they needed to be from sustainable sources and weather proof.

In order to begin this project, we needed to have a thorough understanding of the given user: the elderly. Therefore we were required to visit an elderly care centre and select an elderly individual and interview him/her in order to understand their specific needs/attributes that would influence the design of the furniture. Nabeel and I teamed up and interviewed one of the residents at the elderly care centre. After having gathered all the information necessary to inform our design, we set about producing a design proposal for the furniture.

We decided to create a chair for our client as he enjoys spending time outdoors reading. In addition to this, it would also double up as a walker in order to encourage him to walk as he currently did not have the confidence to do so due to weakness in his lower legs.

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Reflecting back…

This project proved to be challenging as it was the first time that we were required to design furniture for a client. Also it needed to be specifically designed for an elderly person. Therefore a lot of attention needed to be made on ergonomics and anthropometry of the client. Furthermore, from our visit to the elderly care centre we able to have an understanding of the human environment and living conditions within an architectural space.

Project 2: Centre for the Elderly

This project required us to design an elderly centre to be located within a suburban area including complexities of site topography and socio-cultural events. The project began with a visit to our site in the suburban area of PJs7, Subang Jaya Selangor. Surrounded by housing estates, apartments, religious facilities, commercial buildings and educational institutions, the site possessed characteristics of an active neighbourhood due to the many community related facilities present.

Our first task was to conduct a thorough site analysis which we carried out in our own tutorial groups. All the data gathered was then produced in a presentation panel. In addition to this, we were also required to produce a site model scaled 1:200.

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Reflecting back…

Conducting the site analysis proved to be good experience personally for me as it made me aware of a lot more details with regard to the site than I had done so in pervious semesters. I realized that not only was it important to pay attention to the physical aspects of the site, but its cultural and social aspects too were of equal importance. Team work was key in carrying out this project as each member contributed in order to help complete the presentation panel as well as the site model. Upon completing the site analysis, I was able to have a good understanding of the site that helped inform my concept and design proposal for the elderly centre.

Visceral Response

After the completion of the site analysis, we moved on to the individual components of the project. The first was to produce a visceral study depicting our personal feelings and interpretations of the site. What stood out for me was the fact that the site had many activities taking place in the immediate vicinity. The presence of two religious temples, a kindergarten, a futsal and basketball court as well as a public park all meant that people of various cultural backgrounds and age groups would interact with the site Therefore the true essence of the site lies in the coexistence of these various elements, making it unique in terms of its location.

The next task for us was to use our visceral study to help inform our design concept for the elderly centre. I derived the concept of Connectivity from my visceral study; my main goal being to make use of the existing elements of the site in order to create a strong communal bond between the residents of the neighbourhood and the old folks at the elderly centre.

Reflecting back…

It was a challenging project in terms of designing for a specific set of users: the elderly, careful attention needed to be paid to their needs in order make sure that their living spaces where comfortable and easy to use. On a personal note, I still do feel that there is much room for improvement with regard to my final presentation layout as it is crucial that the elements presented on the panel should help inform my design intention and convey the design concept clearly.

Despite this fact, I do feel that it is an improvement from my previous semester and I did get important feedback from my final crit in order to help me further improve on my shortcomings. Semester 4 proved to be challenging and at the same time very interesting as we as future architects were made aware of how much care and attention needs to be paid when designing for a special group of clients: the elderly.