Parameters:
• Groups of 4-5 students working collaboratively.
• 3 weeks for completion.
• Presentation to the class is visual and practical. In addition to the poster, a physical model
(preferred), a sketchup, a series of drawings, ground plans—whatever and as much as it takes to
explain the concept clearly.
• Must be interesting visually and aesthetically as well as solve the required practical problems.
• Visual design must support the Design Question and Given Circumstances.
• Any research, developmental sketches, or conceptual models should also be presented.
• Integration of the creative process must be part of the group's presentation.
• Assessment will be by the professor and students' critiques.
• Projects will be presented at the final exam period.
Project Description:
You have been hired by a person who is invested with mystical powers to heal or correct any physical or mental sickness or malady. The healing powers are only manifested in this mystic person’s hands and feet, however. The healing process is extremely exhausting to your client and can only be used safely for about two hours per day before placing the healer in peril of death from exhaustion.
This amazing person realizes the importance of his or her powers, has no idea how long they may last, and wishes to touch and heal as many people as possible in the daily two hour period of time.
The Practical Task:
The Healer has acquired an old industrial building in which to practice his or her healing and has hired you to help. It is your job to design an environment/ machine/apparatus/ factory that will allow The Healer to touch as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, but without causing harm or stress to The Healer.
Many of those to be healed will be ambulatory, but many more may be on crutches, in wheelchairs, or even on gurneys. Many will be blind, lame, weak, or deaf. Many may need assistants to help them. All of the possible variations of people to be healed must be accommodated. How are these people to be moved through the healing factory? What is to become of their wheelchairs, etc.? How will their assistants be accommodated? How many people can reasonable be healed in each daily session? Whay happens after they are healed? What kind of staff is needed in this facility? What support structures or management is needed outside of the actual builing in which the healing is taking place?
The Conceptual/ Empathetic Task:
The design must consider the environment as well as the engineering.
The nervous anticipation—even desperation—of the crowd must be considered. Ways of calming (even controlling) them must be incorporated into your design. During their wait (in line?), they should feel hopeful, comfortable, and reassured. They will have questions and fear—how are these to be addressed effectively? Their needs must be met, but the process leading to the healing must be as efficient as possible.
This will be a miraculous and emotional experience for those who are healed. Some consideration for this must be part of the design. The Healer has cured their physical maladies; you must attend to their emotional and spiritual needs at this time. It is essential that you to try to place yourself into the experience to know what is needed, both before and after the healing. You will do this with empathy maps.
The design must also provide for the comfort and privacy for The Healer, though it is essential that the healer be a part of the process and aware of what is going on.
This is an intensely human event, fraught with all of the emotion and physical demands of intimate human interaction.
The Process:
The room you have available for this apparatus is an empty “industrial” space which is 20’-0” D x 28’-0” W x 20’-0” H—it is not very big. (At a scale of 1/4 “ = 1’-0”, this measure out to 5”D x 7”L x 5”H.) Outer structures may be designed, described, and developed, but the healing occurs within these confines. Any means of effectively developing and presenting the design are acceptable.
You will make mistakes and have false starts. This will take longer and require greater collaboration than you think—much more, in fact. It is a huge and challenging undertaking to do this well.
How your group structures itself, the number of ideas generated and discarded, the commitment and motivation of the members, and the desire for the most creative, practical, beautiful, and human-centered solution will determine your success.
Components of the Presentation:
Presentation will be as a 24" x 36" foam-core "poster" to be mounted on a wall or on a tripod, initially viewed in a "walk-around" by the class at the start of presentations, and then used as part of your group presentation. Think of this as a design "pitch"—you want this job!
The presentation will include:
· Any models or mockups you chose to make to make the design of the "machine" clearer to the
audience.
· A description, in outline form, of the "program" of the project. This describes the various elements of
how the mystical healing facility works. This is based upon the data from your user empathy maps.
In other words, how does the "client" make his or her way through the process of being healed.
· A ground plan, in roughly 1/4" = 1'-0" scale (so each inch is four feet; the same scale as "The Party"
exercise). This can be on graph paper to help you scale things.
· Any rough "thumbnail" illustrations you chose to use to further describe the project.
· Research showing buildings, machines, and processes that are similar to what you are proposing.
· Empathy maps for each stage of the "customer's" experience, as you imagine them going through
the process (ie: arriving at the facility, going through the facility, after being healed, etc.) These
can be small and mounted on the board or be separate sheets.
· Let me know before the final if you will need anything else for your presentation such as a table
or an extra tripod, or something to play a sound track on (?).
Mystical Powers Project