Casebeskrivelse:
CONCEPT DESCRIPTION
After consulting with the client, our final concept is considering solutions for two main areas – inaccessibility and reuse of the bunkers from 2nd World War and area around them in the park.
As the vital part of the project is also creating an interesting solutions for gathering the rain water , we decided to bring the concept to both main areas.
INACCESSIBILITY : The problem with inaccessibility is one of the key features in the project. Original paths crossing the parc in straight line didn´t give much space for a walks and ended in a road for cars. The new structure of the paths is more clear and natural, dividing the park into more smaller areas and leading into main streets of Marselisborgcentret. This way visitors can enjoy the strall in the parc as well as use the paths for the fastest passage to their destination.
Main path will be big enough so that 2 wheel chair users would be able to walk together. It will be also used as a canal for a rain water, which will be floating under the pathway made of glass and lead the water into the maing gatherer – rehabilitation pond.
The smaller paths are designed to change into small streams in a case of heavy rain and lead the water into a rehabilitation pond as well.
The rehabilitation pond is located in the bunkers area and is designed to serve 3 main objectives. While being empty, it is a rehabilitation tool for practising walk for patients with brain diseases as well as place of relax and rest. After the rain it will serve as a container for a rain water, which will be slowly dissapearing in next days.
BUNKERS AREA : The area between bunkers can be recreated to serve many different activities. Bunkers are dividing the space to more zones, so the main zones are active and passive. In the active zone we decided to create a skate park which will be using the walls of a bunkers as a ramps and multipurpose physical recreational areas. The passive relaxation zone is consisting of barbeque area and outdoor cinema. The bunkers can be opened and used as a shelters for students or families in warm or even in a rainy weather.
Konceptvideo:
Designprocess:
Week 1 – Finding and specify the problem.
Meeting with the client part 1
We met with our representative from MarselisborgCenteret (Ole Mygind) who introduced us to the case (see ‘About the case’). The presentation was very informative, and we were provided with books and flyers about the centre. These books provided us with some historical knowledge about how Marselisborg Hospitalet became MarselisborgCenteret. Furthermore they contained valuable user experiences, told by the centre’s patients, their relatives and employees. With secondary information like this, it is of course important to be aware that MarselisborgCenteret have already selected and edited in these stories, but still the books provided us with a starting point and indicated areas in the overall experience that were already working, per example the service experience.
Along with the books, we were provided with printed photos of the area and a map where the different green areas are marked. Ole clarified that our job would be to focus on the outdoor area, why it was hardly ever used, and think of new solutions were a collection of rainwater could be incorporated. After a Q&A session we were ready to begin the project.
Field work
We were invited to visit MarselisborgCentret and conduct a thorough fieldwork. Ole had arranged for some of the centre’s daily users to function as our guides and give us a tour around the area, while also giving us insight into their daily life and challenges with the outdoor facilities.
We were provided with a wheelchair and a blindfold+cane, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the experience and develop a better understanding the users’ challenges.
On the fieldtrip we gathered a lot of important information and impressions. Per example were we surprised to find out, that none of the users we interviewed had any desire in using the park. Partly because they had alternatives closer to their homes, but even when they were at the centre they had no incentive to use the outdoor areas. This made us question how that might be?
Brainstorming
With our heads full of thoughts, we brainstormed about all the problems we had found/ seen/heard on our field trip.
Mind mapping
After our brainstorm, we could conclude that most of the problems we had discovered could fit into three categories: Accessibility, Aesthetic, and Perception. We highlighted the problems we found most important by writing them on pink post-it sheets.
Division of the customer groups and service cycles
After the brainstorm we identified different costumer groups both current users, and potential groups we could imagine using the areas, but did not. After identifying the groups we mapped out their customer journeys, and how these might interfere with the problems we had discovered.
This gave us an important insight in the different users, and especially why a big part of the community did not go to the park at all, they simply had no reason to.
Oroboros
We wanted a visual representation of the customer journeys to show to Ole at our upcoming meeting. We therefore made two Ouroboros (one for the centre’s users, and one for the surrounding community) that helped us illustrating our concerns.
Object Theater
To give us a further insight and allow the potential to discover new problems, we booked a time to work in an object theatre workshop. We used a sandbox-structure in which we placed different objects, toys, and figures and tried as far as possible to allow our subconsciousness to do the selecting and placing.
Afterwards we started to analyse the ‘landscape’ we had made, and projected it over to our case. The method was interesting and could certainly be rewarding, besides the problems we had already discovered the workshop also added a new and strong focus on the road between the centre and the park. It was clear to us, that our sandbox was divided into two separate areas not allowing characters to cross from one side to the other, but as soon as the ‘road’ (visualised by a big tree) was removed the entire area opened up and had a new and relaxed ambience.
Defining the overall problem statement
One of the teachers advised us to narrow down the wishes/issues from MarselisborgCenteret, and present what we thought was the most important problems. We agreed in the group that the main challenges were how to get users and citizens together to use all the green areas on site and not just the park.
Video sketching and photos
Based on our brainstorming, schemes, workshop and overall problem statement, we prepared a short video that emphasised some of the issues we saw. This video was presented to Ole at our second meeting
Week 2 – Idea and concept development.
Meeting with the client part 2
At our third meeting with Ole, we presented to him the problems we had found, and discussed if we were on the right track in terms of what he had in mind. After underlining to us, how important handling of the rainwater was, we agreed (with a smaller adjustment) on our problem statement, which has provided us with an overall focus since.
Feedback:
Ideation fase
Our first tool was to reuse the brainstorming technique. We divided it into a silent brainstorm the first 5 minutes, allowing everybody to ‘empty’ his or her brain for ideas and concepts. After the 5 minutes we presented each other the ideas, which led to a few new ideas.
Organizing ideas
After the brainstorm we organized our thoughts into different groups, trying to create a sense of overview. After this, we started a selection process, of which ideas we would turn into rough concepts and present to Ole at our next meeting
Story boarding
Before making the actual video sketches, we made a storyboard to present our ideas for each concept. The storyboards showed the most important features and text in every shot.
Video sketches
Based on our storyboards we made six video sketches in Adobe Premiere Pro, using different techniques (including: stop motion, sketchup modelling, photoshop editing, sound effects, text and voice over) to present our ideas. We uploaded the videos to YouTube, and from there embedded them on this website.
Week 3 – Completing the final concept.
Meeting with the client part 3
We presented our video sketches for Ole, and in discussion with him, we agreed that the further focus should be on how to incorporate usage of the bunkers in the park, how to make a more accessible and better path system, as well as he again underlined that collection of rainwater was vital to the usability of all of these concepts.
Fine-tuning the concepts
Before the final presentation, our rough concepts needed to be further developed, as well as we needed to implement the collection of rainwater. We therefore divided our group into two smaller groups, half of us was working with ideas to develop the bunkers, and the other half was working with improving the path system, both groups kept the implementation of rainwater in mind. After two hours teamwork, we sat together and shared our final concepts.
Video Production
Because our case in many ways incorporates landscaping, we agreed to make a concept video mainly using computer generated 3D models. Some members in the group already had experiences in modelling in SketchUp and Lumion, these competences seemed obvious to draw on for this case.
The final concepts were split into several smaller parts, and divided through the group members. Specialised features in our case were modelled in SketchUp, and the imported to Lumion, where we could make a final video.
Videoskitser:
What is Marselisborgcenteret?
Marselisborgcenteret is a collaboration between a wide range of associations, organizations, and private companies, who work with rehabilitation, research, and development related to that. They are all located in the middle of Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark, in a number of closely located buildings in a large green area. The green area mainly consist of a large park located right next to the buildings, but smaller green areas are located all over the place. The park is lightly used by the public, and the center have around 2500 people using/working at the center on a daily basis.
What is our case?
Marselisborgcenteret have a vision about increasing the usage of the green areas around the center, and have ask us to come up with concepts for how they can bring more people from the immediate area into the park, but also get them to use the other smaller green areas. They also want the users of the center, both employees and the people with disabilities to use these areas as well, so it’s important that there is activities for everyone as well as these are accessible by everyone.
Marselisborgcenteret has also started a collaboration with the water company of Aarhus, where they want to build a solution for collecting rainwater to protect the lower grounds, both at the center but also elsewhere in the city. We have been asked to think about ideas on how such facilities could be improved to be used for activities which the visitors could enjoy, to make them relevant throughout the year instead of only on days when it rains a lot.
Group members:
Annamaria Martonyikova
Bolette Sif Ulff-Møller
Christoffer Carstensen
Cosmin Hariton
Janis Berzins
Tobias Mikjær Christensen
Contact person:
Ole Mygind