Abstract
With limited space, lack of natural lighting and restrictive internal layout, children living in subdivided units and other similar small living spaces are often left with no choice but to study, play and sleep on the bed for a prolonged period. Such environmental conditions often damage children’s development, particularly their eyesight, muscles, and bones, and harm their concentration, self-worth, and, thus, academic attainment. Early interventions are of the utmost urgency. This project adopted continued convergence research collaboration and participatory design to understand critical issues and develop and test interventions to improve the studying environment of children living in subdivided units in Hong Kong. A pre-intervention study aimed to create a baseline for further usability studies, and a post-intervention study to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions and point to further research directions. The design interventions have shown the potential for enhancing posture adoption and the children's well-being in various scenarios.
Keywords
convergence research; participatory design; ergonomics; study furniture
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.597
Citation
Maximo, T., Lo, C.H.,and Zhan, W.(2023) Convergence research and participatory design of a study furniture system for small living environments, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.597
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Convergence research and participatory design of a study furniture system for small living environments
With limited space, lack of natural lighting and restrictive internal layout, children living in subdivided units and other similar small living spaces are often left with no choice but to study, play and sleep on the bed for a prolonged period. Such environmental conditions often damage children’s development, particularly their eyesight, muscles, and bones, and harm their concentration, self-worth, and, thus, academic attainment. Early interventions are of the utmost urgency. This project adopted continued convergence research collaboration and participatory design to understand critical issues and develop and test interventions to improve the studying environment of children living in subdivided units in Hong Kong. A pre-intervention study aimed to create a baseline for further usability studies, and a post-intervention study to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions and point to further research directions. The design interventions have shown the potential for enhancing posture adoption and the children's well-being in various scenarios.