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Inclusive ‘relaxed performances’ are leisure activities where people can participate, within a theatre environment, often with the use of assistive technologies, adapted texts and scripts that support interaction and social inclusion. This paper presents a participatory collaborative research project that examines the challenges faced by people living with disability when accessing theatre performances, and how design, technology and adaptations can facilitate participation and promote empowerment. Embracing a participatory approach with attention given to persons with visual impairments, people with mobility impairments persons with language and communication limitations and those on the autism spectrum, data was collected in 4 phases, from the pre-performance to the presentation of the performance. Post-performance analysis used interpretive approaches and evaluation analysis. Results include the development of potential strategies for the inclusion of people from all perspectives in performances. These strategies include the use of audio description which provides visual information about gestures, props and the layout of the stage., Version de travail. more...

Although public environments provide opportunities for participation and social inclusion, they are not always inclusive spaces and may not accommodate the wide diversity of people. The Rehabilitation Living Lab in the Mall is a unique, interdisciplinary, and multi-sectoral research project with an aim to transform a shopping complex in Montreal, Canada, into an inclusive environment optimizing the participation and social inclusion of all people.The PRECEDE-PROCEDE Model (PPM), a community-oriented and participatory planning model, was applied as a framework. The PPM is comprised of nine steps divided between planning, implementation, and evaluation.The PPM is well suited as a framework for the development of an inclusive mall. Its ecological approach considers the environment, as well as the social and individual factors relating to mall users' needs and expectations. Transforming a mall to be more inclusive is a complex process involving many stakeholders. The PPM allows the synthesis of several sources of information, as well as the identification and prioritization of key issues to address. The PPM also helps to frame and drive the implementation and evaluate the components of the project.This knowledge can help others interested in using the PPM to create similar enabling and inclusive environments world-wide. Implication for rehabilitation While public environments provide opportunities for participation and social inclusion, they are not always inclusive spaces and may not accommodate the wide diversity of people. The PRECEDE PROCEDE Model (PPM) is well suited as a framework for the development, implementation, and evaluation of an inclusive mall. Environmental barriers can negatively impact the rehabilitation process by impeding the restoration and augmentation of function. Removing barriers to social participation and independent living by improving inclusivity in the mall and other environments positively impacts the lives of people with disabilities. more...

Persons with disabilities face challenges which impact on their ability to accomplish daily activities such as moving around, communicating and fulfilling social roles. Social participation assumes individuals with disabilities live within their community and interact with others. Shopping malls are public spaces used by individuals for various reasons. Here, all components of the social and physical environment interact and have an impact on social participation. This exploratory and qualitative study provides a multi-perspective assessment of the usability, as well as of the environmental facilitators and obstacles to social participation in shopping malls. The results also suggest necessary improvements. We interviewed 15 persons with disabilities, 15 rehabilitation professionals and 9 shopkeepers. Participants viewed the mall as a multifunctional place for everyday use, but at times, also as a limiting place. Multiple facilitators and obstacles were identified; the most important were interaction with shopkeepers and the mall's design for mobility or wayfinding. All participants agreed shopkeeper training and an improved awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities would be beneficial. Multiple stakeholders’ perceptions provide a basis for further investigation about needed changes and their potential for making malls more welcoming and inclusive to all. more...

This exploratory research project explores the mobility challenges of outdoor navigation and way-finding, through the lens of the person with a disability. Obstacles in social participation and human interaction with technology within the urban environment are salient issues driving this research study about mobility and accessibility when navigating urban parks. People with disabilities, specifically those with mobility limitations, such as people in motorized wheelchairs, have particular needs that must be addressed to maximize social participation within in the urban environment and involvement in leisure activities. This study examines the physical environment and social activities that occur in a typical leisure filled day at the park, what obstacles hamper navigation, and what issues emerge from the perspective of the person with the disability. The study data collection proceeds from a constructivist perspective using a participatory approach (Living Lab), wherein researchers and participants collaborated together to create the activity and also to assess its success post activity. Data collection tools included walkabouts, recording conversation in real time, and discussions both before and after the research activity. The study is presented with examples, and the emergent issues help reveal opportunities for potential ways to both respond to mobility challenges and integrate way-finding, as a means for future development of mobility and navigational tools for better accessibility and enjoyment of social activities within the urban park environment. more...

The last 50 years has seen moves towards establishing a sound epistemic basis for design as a knowledge discipline. Despite this, there is still a lack of clarity and penetration of such epistemic studies into pedagogy and practice, as well as little consensus of a foundational structure to the territory of specialized knowledge and knowledge acquisition. This raises the issue that there remains several epistemological ‘big challenges’ across the entire spectrum of design disciplines – or as a generalized design knowledge (Cross, 2013). This theme will explore the current state of design epistemology and pose a range of questions that remain generally unanswered, or incompletely answered. Such questions have to consider the historical underpinnings of design as discipline, leading to the social and political drivers and contexts within which it operates today. At the same time, these questions have to consider the grounded and heuristic nature of design; a fundamentally situated practice whose artifacts still remain under-researched across the discipline. In general terms, a design epistemology as a truly distinct and rigorous knowledge praxis has yet to emerge. At this 50th Design Research Society conference, the Design Epistemology Theme seeks to encourage new discussions across the community to rigorously consider the scope, methods and veracity of design practice, education and research. more...

In outer space, human experiences interject with technology in ways not experienced on Earth. We will examine the human aspects of living both on Earth and in the interior 0g environment, how technology interacts with astronauts, and how the design of the interior environments in outer space considers the interaction of technology and humanity from an astronaut's perspective. These issues are explored with Marc Garneau, the first Canadian astronaut in outer space, and Travis Baldwin, 0g environment designer, who has worked with astronauts in the USA. Both discuss the complexity of living in space and how the ways that we live on Earth in terms of interior spatial environment characteristics might be interesting to consider. Within interior environments on Earth, function is always affected and mediated by social and dynamic human relationships and people's experience and perceptions. When these experiences are transferred into the 0g environment, small, confined, and highly technological environments augment and intensify human relations. And yet these are rarely considered in the quest for secure, functional environments in space transport or on stations. These issues are discussed from both theoretical and practical perspectives in conversation with Garneau and Baldwin. In the interview with Marc Garneau, the author validates certain theoretical assumptions about the complex and dynamic interactions that occur in space, understanding the ways that astronauts cope in space and become creative in figuring out how to "mold" the environment to become their own, and what design factors are important to consider. Finally, examples of potential design ideas for integrating and humanizing the interior 0g space environment are explored and ideas about how to integrate human social elements are proposed. more...

Looking forward, we argue that the need for research and scholarship in interior design has never been greater, given the difficult economic pressures being felt around the world and facing those in academia, practice, and industry. Research allows us to define with great precision why design adds such indelible value to the world in which we live by enhancing knowledge about the design of interiors including workplace and learning environments, public places and leisure spaces, as well as in those for healing. Turbulent times often make way for innovation. We see this theme emerging in the recent exhibition, Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity, at the Museum of Modern Art, which is instructive from a historic perspective (Bergdoll & Dickerman, 2009). more...

Interior environments and their design are profoundly influenced by how designers integrate color and light with form and space. In our increasingly global world, new lighting technologies are changing our perception of color and light and subsequently our interrelationships with one another and with interior space. This alters the choices that we have as designers when we make both color and light decisions. Traditional light and color theories are being challenged with new lighting approaches that are complex, dynamic, and that are changing people's immediate experiences within spaces. Currently, new light technologies alter our perceptual relationships with people and forms, as light, its spectral color, and the forms its affects are more interactive and modulated in real time. Usually, in interior design coursework, students learn about color and light as static theories that they are then asked to apply within the interior design of spaces in subsequent design studios. Through a presentation and examination of the course “Color and Light in Interior Design,” this paper proposes considering integrating color and light theories with new contexts of dynamic, integrated human experiences of color and light in interior space. Students acquire learning experiences that integrate theory and practice by understanding the complex interrelationships of light, color, and objects in interior spaces as interactive, and by exploring design concepts in actual environments as a laboratory where they can test theories and their own ideas. The course structure is described and the theories underlying the course goals are explored. Color and light theories are considered in the context of emerging technologies and how phenomenological approaches affect our perceptions and experiences in spaces. Student examples of two of the four course projects are presented as these put theories into practice. The discussion shows that light and color theory, when explored in this way, stimulates both comprehensive and creative responses that integrate new technology with aesthetic theory and functional aspects of well–designed light/color solutions. The integrating of practice into theory stimulates reflective thinking and an understanding of situated contexts in interior design problem solving. The course develops emerging necessities of understanding dynamic color/light concepts that contribute to broadening interior design applied knowledge. more...

Tiiu Poldma is Vice Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Environmental Design, and associate professor at the School of Industrial Design at the University of Montreal. Tiiu Poldma received a BID at Ryerson in 1982 (Toronto), MA in Culture and Values in Education in 1999 and Doctor of Philosophy in 2003, both from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She teaches interior design studio and theory within the Bachelor of Interior Design program at the University of Montreal, and advanced research methodologies in the Masters of Science and Ph.D. programs at the Faculty of Environmental Design. She is currently the Director of the Research Group GRID(Group for Research in Illumination and Design) and heads up the Colour, Light and Form Lab (Laboratoire Forme*couleur*lumiere) at the faculty. She accredits design programs as a site evaluator for CIDAboth in Canada and the United States, and is also a member of the Editorial Board of Inderscience where she is the Regional Editor of the Journal of Design Research (JDR), and serves on the Editorial Board of Design/Science/Planning (Techne Press, Amsterdam). more...

Art and design creative techniques are increasingly used in educational and social sciences research as means to complement narrative qualitative research methodologies. Less known is the means by which interior design and visual arts students may use collage, concept maps or other artful visual tools when analysing the narrative in research. This paper demonstrates how artful methods can be combined with more traditional qualitative methodologies to uncover meaning in research texts or during the data analysis process. The authors show how both the phenomenon used and the method applied to data analysis offers a creative way to allow for meaning to emerge, while situating the research firmly in a phenomenological perspective of lived experience of the researcher through a collaborative conversation. Two visual examples are presented to demonstrate the phenomenon, and the discussion situates the usefulness of this type of research inquiry method. more...