article

A R C H I T E C T U R E
C I V I L
E N G I N E E R I N G
E N V I R O N M E N T
T h e S i l e s i a n U n i v e r s i t y o f Te c h n o l o g y
N o. 1 / 2 0 1 6
THE DESIGN THINKING METHOD IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN,
PARTICULARLY FOR DESIGNING SENIOR HOMES
Joanna TYMKIEWICZ a, Maria BIELAK-ZASADZKA b
a DSc PhD Eng. Arch.; Faculty of Architecture, The Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 7,
44-100 Gliwice, Poland
E-mail address: [email protected]
b PhD Eng. Arch.; Faculty of Architecture, The Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 7, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
E-mail address: [email protected]
Received: 9.06.2015; Revised: 21.11. 2015; Accepted: 2.02.2016
Abstract
Researches on designing homes for senior in the future implemented by the authors were presented in two articles. The first
one is focused on the theoretical foundations. Paper explains what Design Thinking method is, discusses the state of
research, objectives, substantiation of the selection of the topic, and modern trends in the design of senior homes. A continuation of this topic is article: SENIOR HOMES OF THE FUTURE IN THE EYES OF STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE. DIDACTIC EXPERIENCE FROM THE APPLICATION OF THE DESIGN THINKING METHOD.
Streszczenie
Badania nad projektowaniem domów seniora w przyszłości podjęte przez autorki, zostały zaprezentowane w dwóch
artykułach. Pierwszy z nich koncentruje się na podbudowie teoretycznej. Artykuł wyjaśnia co to jest metoda Design
Thinking, omawia stan badań, cele, uzasadnienie wyboru tematu, oraz współczesne trendy w projektowaniu ośrodków dla
seniorów. Kontynuację tematu stanowi artykuł: DOMY SENIORÓW W PRZYSZŁOŚCI W OPINIACH STUDENTÓW
WYDZIAŁU ARCHITEKTURY. DYDAKTYCZNE DOŚWIADCZENIA WYNIKAJĄCE ZE STOSOWANIA METODY
DESIGN THINKING.
K e y w o r d s : Architecture; Design Thinking; Senior homes; Future.
1. INTRODUCTION AND SUBSTANTIATION OF THE CHOICE OF TOPIC
Due to extending life span of our society, the issues
involving problems in the seniors’ environment are
undertaken in architectural design more and more frequently. These issues are also a part of the teaching
syllabus at the Faculty of Architecture, Silesian
University of Technology. Students understand the
necessity of facing such problems, therefore, they participate willingly in projects concerning this field of
architecture, and often chose designs of senior homes
for their BSc and MSc theses, using architectural and
urban solutions consistent with the needs of the elder-
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ly living nowadays. Accordingly, a question arises
whether these needs are long-term and whether they
will be the same or similar in 30-50 years’ time. Such
question is relevant for two reasons:
• First and foremost – in accordance with the life cycle
of buildings – there is a chance that the facilities
(senior homes, care facilities) that are built nowadays will still be used in the future, so, after repairs
and adjustments they should fulfil the needs and
requirements of future seniors.
• Secondly – will the seniors of the future be similar to
the seniors of today? Will they follow the same
behaviour, interests and hobbies? Will they suffer
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from similar ailments? Will the present representatives of the so called Y and Z generation, i.e. young
people brought up in the world of new technologies, the Internet, Facebook and other amenities
that have radically changed hobbies, leisure activities and ways of communicating with others, and
who will be seniors in 30-40 years’ time, still be
interested in cultivating the garden and reading traditional books?
Surely, although it is impossible to give firm answers
to the above questions that concern the future, they
are pertinent enough to be pondered upon. Thus, the
authors of the paper have made an attempt at
addressing these questions to students at the Faculty
of Architecture within the framework of the subject:
“Design Strategies”. As this subject is taught in the
form of design classes, the authors have decided to
adopt the approach of Design Thinking (acronym:
DT), as it offers the opportunity of abandoning
schematic thinking and replicating usual patterns,
leading to innovative solutions that are especially
applicable to the architecture of the future. It should
be emphasized that this approach consists of stages
that are very important in architectural design: definition of users’ needs and brainstorming, thanks to
which, in the authors’ opinion, it can result in new
attitudes towards the issue of future seniors.
Moreover, DT requires team work, which is nowadays highly recommended. Unlike individual work,
team projects tend to lead to innovative solutions and
give better chances of addressing present and future
users’ needs. The method has some disadvantages,
but much more benefits, because, according to
Lindsey Pollak – the generation of 20-30 year adults
“for who it is natural to use applications facilitating
cooperation, such as: Skype, Google Docs or Wikis”,
although not very keen on group work, likes to contribute to the accomplishment of a common goal.
The opportunity of realizing how their individual
work influences the final result, is a source of tremendous job satisfaction” [16].
The undertaken topic was divided into two parts, i.e.
two separate papers. The first one is a presentation of
theoretical foundations for the subsequent conceptual work based on Design Thinking, whereas the second paper is focused on the results and final conclusions.
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2. STATE OF RESEARCH
As the undertaken topic combines two themes: application of Design Thinking in teaching at the Faculty
of Architecture, and facing the problem of senior
homes in the future, the chapter on the state of
research was divided, congruously, into two sub-sections, one focused on DT method and the other on
the design of the environment for seniors.
2.1. State of knowledge concerning Design Thinking
method
Design Thinking is a method of creative solving a
problem and looking for innovative solutions.
According to definiction of Willemien Visser:
“Design Thinking refers to design-specific cognitive
activities that designers apply during the process of
designing” [11]. For DT method the following procedural steps are characteristic:
• formulation of the problem to be solve,
• survey of user needs,
• brainstorm,
• prototyping,
• implementation of the best ideas into practice and
testing.
A detailed history of the development of DT method
and presentation of the most important publications
can be found on web site: “Human-Centered Design
Thinking. A collection of articles and thoughts written and/or curated by Max Yakin Bozek” [12]. In
terms of the objectives of this work – as far as DT
method is concerned, first and foremost, Tim
Brown’s book should be mentioned, also available in
Polish [5], which is the most important publication
devoted to the application of DT method, its procedures and substance. There are also some supplementary publications available on the Polish market:
Bochinska B. (and others) [4], Best K. [1], discussing
the management of the architectural design process
from a comprehensive perspective. Apart from wellknown publications, DT has rich and easily available
theoretical and practical foundations in the Internet
sources, for example: www. pages of Stanford
University [13], where the method is being developed
in research and teaching, and, among Polish sources:
www. pages of the Technical University in Gdansk
[14], which is one of the co-organizers of Design
Thinking Week. There are also numerous trainings
and practical examples of the application of DT on
the Internet.
At the Faculty of Architecture, Silesian University of
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2.2. State of research on the design of the environment for seniors
To get a proper insight into the issues concerning the
elderly and their built environment, as well as the
relations between the two, it is necessary to examine
publications devoted to seniors (their problems,
needs and expectations), to the architectural environment dedicated to elder users and describe the principles of Universal Design, ergonomics and design
guidelines and standards. Thus, literature concerning
the general problems of the elderly and the disabled
was analyzed, in consideration of medical, sociological, psychological and pedagogical issues of gerontology, sociology and environmental psychology. A comprehensive presentation of important publications in
these fields and full reference data are contained in
M. Bielak’s monographs [2], [3].
3. OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
The main objective of the research undertaken by the
authors was to find out students’ opinion, as seniors
of the future, on their predicted future needs in view
of the place of occupancy in “Senior architects’
home”. Apart from the research objective, there were
also didactic objectives to be accomplished, i.e. to
extend students’ knowledge of the design of care
facilities for the elderly and acquisition of the skills
involved in DT, including the recognition of users’
needs, as well as improvement of competence in team
projects. The particular stages of DT method, apart
from the above-mentioned analyses of the state of
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research, was preceded by the stage of substantial
preparation, including the recapitulation of the
knowledge on modern trends in the design of senior
homes, as well as architectural and technical solutions targeted at the elderly, in the form of multimedia presentations prepared by students and supplemented by an introductory lecture.
4. CURRENT TRENDS AND REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING THE DESIGN OF
THE ENVIRONMENT FOR SENIORS
As far as the architectural form and aesthetics are
concerned, among the care facilities for seniors there
is an increasing number of original and aesthetically
challenging buildings, for example [15]:
• WoZoCo in Amsterdam, Holland, designed by
MVRDV (1998) – a visionary multi-floor building
with facades containing dynamically extended balconies and freely “scattered” widows of various
size, situated in the quarter designed as gardencity;
• Santa Rita Geriatrics Centre, Ciutadella, Illes
Baleares, Spain, designed by Manuel Ocaña (20042009) – a vast compact one-floor body of the building in the form of a polygon, with internal atrium
composed of soft lines;
• Old People’s Home in Alcácer do Sal, Portugal,
designed by Aires Mateus Arquitectos (2010) –
minimalist form composed of white cuboids
arranged as a chess-board in three rows of floors,
twined around hilly landscape;
• Care Facility in Hainburg, Austria, designed by
Christian Kronaus + Erhard An-He Kinzelbach,
2009, situated among green sites, with dynamic,
unusual, zigzag-like bent facades;
• Seniors’ Centre Home in Hodoš, Slovenia,
designed by Ravnikar Potokar Arhitekturni, 2010 –
an elegant, visually light pavilion which combines
the functions for seniors with zones and functions
accessible to outsiders;
• Retirement Home in Riedisheim, France, designed
by Atelier Zündel & Cristea (A/ZC), 2009 – simple
in form, overlaid with patinated wood, with timber
terraces, balconies and roofing – evoking a sense of
comfort, warmth and safety;
• Retirement Home in Plussenburgh, Rotterdam,
Holland, designed by Arons en Gelauff
Architecten, 2006 – a luxurious tower – apartment
block, with modernly expressed facades, dedicated
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Technology, the first publications on Design Thinking
have also already come out:
• in the field of urban planning – two papers describing the workshops conducted on the bases
of DT, published in ACEE-Journal: Stangel M.,
Szóstak A. [7] and Stangel M., Witeczek A. [8],
• in the field of ergonomics – one chapter in monograph [10] and one paper presented at ICERI 2015
Conference [9] – describing the author’s experience
in team work with students, and DT procedures in
didactics.
In view of DT used for design of the future, there are
several actions organized world-wide, for example:
IKEA’s initiative, which, together with students of
Lund University and Eindhoven University, has
undertaken the task of designing “the Kitchen of
2015” in consideration of forecasting users’ future
needs [17].
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to the retiring “hippie generation”.
The analysis of the above examples indicates that foreign architects emphasize the wish to abandon the
stereotypes and “hospital-like” architecture of care
facilities. They propose explicit, modern forms, use
materials and colour – lines that create a positive
mood (serenity, optimism) and people-friendly scale,
although one of the described examples is a tower
block. The architectural solutions and means of
expression support a sense of safety and good orientation (way-finding) in the facility and in the external
surroundings. Also, it is an ambition of foreign design
offices to satisfy more refined tastes and requirements of more demanding users (often well-to-do).
Modern trends in the design of facilities for seniors
are also noticeable in diploma works of students at
the Faculty of Architecture (Fig. 1, 2). Their designs
emerge on the grounds of modern standards, guidelines and norms in accordance with the Universal
Design principles. The starting point for such projects are literature studies and quality evaluations of
existing facilities, leading to the determination of
seniors’ needs and the requirements concerning their
place of occupancy and life.
To recapitulate – the fundamental requirement that
currently functioning care facilities have to fulfill is a
total elimination of all architectural barriers. This
entails technical, construction and organizational
activities providing users with opportunities for independent fulfillment of their needs in their own environment. Buildings and their surroundings should be
easily accessible in all their parts, both from the interiors and from the exteriors. They should be
equipped with amenities for the disabled, for example: lifts in multi-floor facilities. Spaces “free from
any barriers” should enable inmates to move around
on their own, both inside the building and in its surroundings, as this reduces the sense of co-dependence and gives them opportunities for making
choices. Buildings should also be equipped with paging and alarm systems, fire alarms, which could be
used to call the staff in case of any difficulties. They
should guarantee comfort, provide orientation and
information signs to facilitate way-finding and awareness of being in a specific space. They should be legible, accessible and safe; moreover, their arrangement should be flexible to enable unhindered formation of space (zones devoid of partitions, accessible
and easy for inmates to move around). They should
also meet the basic requirement of our times – functional flexibility, involving the need to adjust spaces
to individual, different needs.
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Figure 1.
Conceptual Design of Seniors’ Centre in KonstancinJeziorna. MSc project, Supervisor: M. Bielak-Zasadzka, PhD
Arch. Eng., Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, 2013,
visualization of the body of the building and the façade,
author: W. Nowak
Figure 2.
Conceptual design of the extension of seniors’ care facility.
“Dolomity” Senior Home in Bytom. MSc Project, Supervisor:
M. Bielak -Zasadzka, PhD Arch. Eng., Silesian University of
Technology, Gliwice, 2014, view on the internal courtyard,
visualization, author: A. Hoder
5. TECHNICAL
SENIORS
AMENITIES
FOR
Another issue related to better insight into the design
for seniors, before commencing DT procedures, were
currently functioning, modern amenities for the elderly and the disabled. At this stage students were
acquainted with innovative technical solutions that
are already in use, or will be commonly used in the
nearest future and that have a significant influence on
the way seniors and the handicapped move around
and communicate with other people. These technical
novelties may also have an impact on the architectural and urban space for seniors, for example:
• exo-skeleton – enabling people with leg inertia to
get up from a wheelchair and walk,
• bionic limbs prostheses controlled by brain impulses,
• bio-electronic eye retina, or portable GPS devices,
enabling the blind to move around the city by cre-
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6. IN SITU ANALYSES
It should be mentioned that apart from theoretical
knowledge, students had the opportunity of facing
the problems regarding in senior homes in practice
during quality analyses and participative studies in
the functioning care facilities for the elderly within
the framework of the faculty subject: “Adjustment of
the environment for seniors”.
The conducted quality analyses with the participation
of students entailed quality evaluation of existing
senior homes, in view of the fulfilment of specific
needs of the elderly. Before the evaluation, students
prepared input materials, including drawing materials (plans) and, in consequence, gradually evaluated
the consistence of the design with the reality, studied
and assessed the advantages and disadvantages
revealed in the course of observations and interviews
with the users. In the next step, in accordance with
POE (Post Occupancy Evaluation – for more information on the method see [6]), they conducted the
quality analyses of the facilities during the stage of
occupancy. The analyses were focused on the criteria
of functionality and efficiency of the buildings, users,
essential spaces, selected elements, technical, functional and behavioural quality (in this case: mainly
aesthetic quality).
The investigated buildings were analyzed in accordance with the following general list of the criteriaquality categories elaborated by M. Bielak (for more
information see [2], [3]).
• Location:
– Surroundings and neighbourhood of the site;
– Spatial management of the site;
• Image and attractiveness of the building as perceived by users and visitors;
• The building:
– Technical issues;
– Maintenance
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– Safety;
• Internal environment, micro-climate:
– Air quality inside the building;
– Ambient temperature;
– Natural and artificial lighting;
– Acoustic conditions (noise);
• Spatial efficiency, way-finding;
• Functional quality of space:
– Internal zones and specific types of space.
The issues and activities described in the first part of
the paper provided substantive grounds for conceptual work in accordance with Design Thinking. The
next stage and final conclusions are presented in Part
II of the paper.
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ating a touch-screen map supported by satellite signals or voice commands,
• improved hearing prostheses – cochlear implants,
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• speech prostheses – brainstem implants connected
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The inventions mentioned above are now prototypes, or unavailable (unaffordable, yet, in future
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