projects

brief 1
1/ Work in pairs. Select a physical or visual impairment and simulate it (by putting Vaseline on your spectacles or cotton wool in your ears, or by borrowing a wheelchair from a disability organisation).
2/ Visit your nearest transport environment (train station, airport, bus station etc) as a pair. The ‘disabled’ partner should try to carry out a task (visit information kiosk or find your way to the check-in desk for a particular flight). The other should observe and visually document the process.
3/ Jointly, make a single design proposal that would improve the experience and make the task easier to complete.

brief 2
1/ Visit your nearest airport. Go to the area where people meet and greet passengers arriving off incoming flights.
2/ Document via video/sketching/photography the social interaction within the environment.
3/ Redesign the space to prove a better ‘sense of arrival’ for a) you b) your grandparents c) a wheelchair user d) a visually impaired person.

brief 3
1/ Visit your nearest airport. Create a visual record of the ‘landside’ facilities that you can access, up to going through Customs and Security into ‘airside’.
2/ Make a space plan which determines which facilities are retail and which are operational.
3/ Create a design strategy for the environment which creates a greater distinction between retail and operational facilities.

brief 4
1/ Visit a non-transport environment - shopping centre, theatre, hospital, soccer stadium or temporary market etc.
2/ Make a study of wayfinding in your chosen environment. Analyse how easy or difficult it is to find your way around.
3/ Select and document one route through your chosen environment eg route from car park to shopping centre or hospital reception to X-ray department.
4/ Make a design proposal to improve wayfinding on that particular route for a) you b) your grandparents c) a wheelchair user d) a visually impaired person.
5/ Explore how your design proposal could be adapted to the needs of an airport terminal.