Public sports facility for the blind
Shek Kip Mei Park
Member Amy Chow/ Chan Wing Yee/ Luk Ching Man/ Wong Hoi Ching/ Woo Kui Kwong
Work type School design project
Project type Public facility design/ Sport facility design
Year 2019
Hong Kong government has provided so many public facilities for citizens, most of them are totally free to use. But we found that although those facilities are free to use, but most of them are not that friendly for everyone, and this almost took away the chance to use the facilities fairly from some special needs people.
In this project we focus on people who got problems on their eye. We found that most of them are weaker than normal people, after interview and research, we found that they cannot use the public workout facilities in few main reasons, and we are going to help them tackle those problems and use the facilities normal and safe by our design.
Aims
-To design a system (can be apply in each park that already exist).
-Allow visual impact and regular user to enjoy gym at the same time.
Target Users
Normal users + Visual Impaired Users
-We found facility nowadays in HK is not friendly enough for visually impaired people to use.
-Facilities/ Products should be improved to let them have a fair chance to enjoy the public facility.
Objectives
▌We hope the product:
-Can show informations and the braille at the same time, but won’t affect each other
-Improve the user experience given by the public workout facilities
-To keep the quality of the use of the facility
-No potential danger element in the products
▌We hope the users:
-Can use the product safely
-Can use the facility correctly following the instruction
-Get high quality workout experience even are using the public tool
Design Process
SITE: Shek Kip Mei Park
Located next to the Hong Kong Society for the Blind
Our group took Shek Kip Mei Park as a reference, to find out the problems of blinds using the sports facilities and instruction board. Based on the existing site, we try to bring in improvements to make the park becomes applicable to blind people. We do some add-on introductory boards and rearrangements to the existing facilities.
Design elements
▌Safety Issue:
-No shape edges to ensure the safety
-No parts will come out on the midair, since blind users will rely on the white cane to locate things, mid air objects will make them get hurt easily
-Line up system to prevent blind users crash with others while they are using
▌Instructing Issue:
-Emboss to let them have a more clear idea on the form and space
-Braille on every text so they can have the same information and instructions the normal users can get
-Sharp contrast color to let them easily divide and understand the form of parts
-More size that can suit asian users
Sketches
Solution
SITE BOARD
Showing overall site plan, types of sports facility provide in park
EMBOSSED SCULPTURE:
Embossed plan and facility shape help associate user the location and their recent location.
LOUD SPEAKER:
Music and Guiding will be played through. It provides guidiance for the exact and the facility usage.
ACRYCLIC BOARD:
A transparent layer cover on top for placing braille, and not affecting the original sight field.
FACILITY SITE BOARD
Showing instructions, facility functions, site plan.
The Facility site board also has an embossed sculpture, acyclic board and loud speakers.
INTRODUCTORY BOARD
Three-sided, save space and will not affect others while working.
BLUE COVER:
Prevent rain drops and environmental effect in destroying the mechanism inside.
HANGER:
For user to hang their personal belongings.
BUTTON:
Provide choices of languages for users to listen.
SPORTS FACILITY: BICYCLE
Three-sided, save space and will not affect others while working
STORAGE:
We add on storage place for user to put their personal belongings under the bicycle.
PROTRUDE MAT:
Help noticing the blind use where the sports facility area is.
