Year: 2015
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: T(e)Huis is a project which began in October 2014 in which a design team are embedded in a care facility dementia ward for two years. Over the course of these two years, the role of designer (usually associated with a defined role of making) and researcher (often restricted to observational bystander) meld into that of layman carer and friend. T(e)Huis follows in the wake of previous dementia-related projects which each lead to a refining of their participatory methodology to suit not the disease, but the individual; his/her context, their network of caregivers and, central to the way in which they work, the person with dementia themselves. Instead of designing for generic symptoms or user groups, they work with individuals, designing without a predetermined technological restraint or aim. The resulting innovations range from colouring books to way-finding jewellery to baskets for zimmer frames. For T(e)Huis, the goal is to create bespoke designs together with people with dementia that support their feeling of ‘home’. This project asks several questions relevant to both design and health. For design practice it asks about the importance of individuals; how a designer can embed empathy into their practice and continually adjust their way of working so that it is open for participation. For the healthcare sector, it asks what this sort of initiative provides as return in relationship to their core purpose of care. This paper will present how this work is carried out, initial reflections as well as how this way of working is shared in design education.
Source: Lirias
Authors: Andrea Wilkinson, Niels Hendriks
Language: English
Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2525371154