Redesign of Interactive Spaces for the Visually Impaired

Creator

Environment and Interior Design: Chan, Mei Wah, Jane 陳美樺 -- Chan, Yuen Lam -- Ho, Po Yu 何寶瑜 -- Kam, Lai Man

Product Design: Chan, Si Jin 陳思晉 -- Lam, Sze Yu -- Lau, Tsz Chun, Jordan 劉子晉 -- Lee, Pak Long -- Tse, Hong I, Sophia 謝匡貽 -- Zhan, Wen 詹雯

Social Design: Ng, Hok Him -- Yu, Wing Kei

Title

Collaborator

The Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB)

Subject

Industrial design -- China -- Hong Kong -- Exhibitions

Interior decoration -- Design -- Exhibitions

Social aspects – Design -- Exhibitions

College graduates

Date Created

2021-06-17
2021-06-18

Relation

PolyU Design - Cooperative Projects

Format

Photographs

Identifier

ASSD2021W01P001

ASSD2021W01P002

ASSD2021W01P003

ASSD2021W01P004

ASSD2021W01P005

ASSD2021W01P006

Is Part Of

BA (Hons) Scheme in Design

Work-Integrated Education (WIE) - Cooperative Project

Description

Design brief

The Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB) offers a wide range of services to help maximise the capabilities of the visually impaired, facilitate their equal participation in society and improve their quality of life with the aim of achieving a harmonious and inclusive society. The HKSB engaged students in this project to design interactive spaces for people with multi-disabilities and visual impairment (MDVI), and to renovate the interactive training room and multi-purpose room at the Morning Glory Day Activity Centre cum Hostel in Shek Kip Mei. The students had to understand the needs of the diverse range of clients for rehabilitation training, learning and entertainment; propose interior design and room renovation concepts with furniture and equipment; and design internal navigation improvements.

Design outcome

The student team first paid a site visit to the activity centre and arranged interviews to gain a better understanding of the use of space, take note of existing equipment, identify staff and users’ needs and generate a holistic user journey map of the space usage. The students made an extra effort to learn how to sensitively interact with and observe people with MDVI before the visit; they also carried out extensive secondary research on supporting products and appropriate colours for the visually impaired, and on designing well-suited spaces and facilities for people with MDVI.

After identifying the problems with the existing space and further analysis of visibility and furniture flexibility, the students reimaged the multi-purpose room with new user scenarios and design objectives to connect the space with nature and natural light, maximise space usage and reorganise storage to better accommodate new and existing activities. The final design of the space was envisaged to facilitate more interaction between users, while the re-layout would provide a wider passage for better accessibility, custom-designed multi-purpose stations and flexible storage options. The interactive training room was redesigned around a concept of time and space to create a novel experience for all users, encourage exploration, facilitate play and provide interactive training.

The designs of the two spaces were licensed to HKSB in 2021.

Collection

PolyU Design Show 2021