Browsing by Subject "Kitchen design"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Building empathy in interior architecture education: exploring empathic design and its reflections
(2023-03) Yeşiltepe, Melis
Integrating empathy to design education enhances students' universal design solutions since empathic design provides a feeling and understanding of a wide range of users' needs in the designed environment or products. This study investigates how using empathic design techniques as instructional design methods influence students’ improvement in the multiple dimensions of empathy, design process and end products, and perceptions of their learning experience. The empirical research is conducted with three groups and a control group who are asked to experience different empathic design techniques (direct contact between designers and users, indirect contact between designers and users, and role-playing) obtaining in the redesign of an existing kitchen and reflecting their learning and design outcomes on an online session in virtual meetings. Qualitative data collection methods consist of behavioral observations, the researcher's logbook, interviews, and design conversation protocols obtained by video recordings of the Zoom meetings. Quantitative data collection methods include using a questionnaire and survey as instruments and assessment of end products. Thematic analysis was conducted to study data from interviews and design. Results indicated that an empathic design process positively indicated students' perceptions of their learning experience and enhanced their self-awareness and design awareness. In addition, empathic design improved students' problem-solving skills, helped them attain universal design solutions easily, and shortened the design process time. The role-playing technique was the most efficient compared to other techniques for raising students' empathy and proposing universal design solutions.
Open Access
A computer assisted universal design (CAUD) plug-in tool for architectural design process
(2008) Afacan, Yasemin
Managing universal design process is a highly complex and challenging design task due to its multi-parameter characteristics. It becomes even more difficult while accommodating the needs of people with diverse impairments in architectural design process. Thus, this study aims to propose the development and implementation of an innovative computer-assisted universal design plug-in tool (CAUD) in the initial design phase that is compatible with the existing three-dimensional design software, SketchUp. Based on the theories and researches, the cognitive design strategies are analyzed for the efficiency of the knowledge support of the CAUD plug-in tool. Thus, the capabilities of the plug-in tool are defined according to the accommodation with an ideal cognitive strategy during analysis, synthesis and evaluation operations. Moreover, to achieve challenges of selecting the right set of universal design requirements within the plug-in tool, a prioritization technique that is based on the hybridization of the two techniques, the Planning Game (PG) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using a cost-value approach is proposed. Through the proposed hybrid technique, requirement–design relationships are computed and the cost-value ratios of requirement priorities are represented. The study that is developed for universal kitchen design applications yielded a significant contribution to the universal design problem-solving process in a computer-aided design (CAD) environment. Finally, the results of the acceptability studies also showed that the CAUD plug-in tool is found in general useful, understandable, efficient, helpful and satisfactory.
Open Access
A priority-based approach for satisfying the diverse users' needs, capabilities and expectations: A universal kitchen design case
(Taylor & Francis, 2010) Afacan, Yasemin; Demirkan, H.
Universal design process is a multi-constraint task due to many user requirements and the complexities caused by the interaction of the requirements in developing design solutions. Since all universal design requirements cannot be equally satisfied, a designer must determine the relative importance and implementation order of each requirement. Prioritisation of requirements is needed, not just to ignore the least important but also to guide designers while coping with dependencies, conflicts and trade-offs between multi-attribute requirements simultaneously. Thus, this study proposes a priority-based approach for satisfying diverse users' needs, capabilities and expectations in a design process conducted in a computer environment. The planning game technique and the analytic hierarchy process technique using a cost-value approach are the two techniques that are applied in prioritising the diverse requirements. The derived priority information is incorporated into a CAD interface with a developed plug-in tool. A universal kitchen design is chosen as a case study for the priority-based approach. The results of the acceptability studies indicate that the proposed plug-in tool is found useful, understandable, efficient, helpful and satisfactory in universal design process and can be developed for various architectural design applications.