In February 2013, I participated in the Inclusive Design Challenge, one of the Design Charettes that takes place for one weekend.

This Inclusive Design Challenge was based on design for the Elderly.
Students were given 3 days to work on a design concept with a partner or small group. To prepare for creating a conceptual design, we attended a series of 20 minute lectures regarding aspects of Aging and Design, visited  Presbyterian Homes & Services to interview residents, and then finally brainstormed designs through sketches to present on the final day of the Charette to the our professors, representatives from Presbyterian Homes, and our fellow students participating in the Charette.

This is one of my initial ideas from brainstorming when my partner, Meghan, and I left on Saturday for the night to come up with individual concepts that we then brought together the following day to combine or scrap to create our final design.

The idea behind this concept was to create a storage system that would be easy to access for the user, in this case, someone whom is whee;chair-bound, and also take up little to no floorspace to provide ample room for the users of the space to maneuver in their wheelchairs.

Here, I created a wall-mounted system that, through a sort of electric conveyer system, would rotate through different storage baskets that would be accessible at a low point in the line, and would cycle up and around above the bed so that they would be out of the way when not in use. Decorative glass would dress up the system and provide ambient light to give the space a less industrial feel.

This was Meghan and mine's final rendering for the project. Here we combined our ideas, Meghan's of creating floating night stands that would allow for the floor to be open and drop ceiling curtains that would divide up the space to provide privacy; and mine of the conveyer system (not shown in the drawing, as it would be on the opposite wall). Then we collaborated on the various aesthetic elements of the design:

- Upholstered "headboards" mounted to the wall that would not only make the beds feel less industrial, but could also double as sort of a cork board for family photos. (mounted to wall instead of bed so that bed is still easy to move and adjust)
- Sofit lighting to illuminate display shelves, add warm lighting, and architectural element to make the walls more interesting and less stark.
- Recessing the drop curtains into "beams" to add another aspect of aesthetic architectural elements, not normally used in Nursing Homes and Hospital situations.
- Creating display shelves by the beds to personalize the space.
 

Several months later, after the professors in charge of the Inclusive Design Challenge submitted our final ideas to Presbyterian Homes & Services to display to all the residents and faculty there, the professors received this Thank You note, expressing their appreciation for all the design ideas created from interviewing the residents. I was pleasantly surprised to see that mine and Meghan's design was mentioned by name as their favorite of all the designs they received. Our design was the only Interior Design of the the group, the rest being mainly Product Designs, no doubt from the number of Industrial Design students that also participated in the Inclusive Design Challenge.