Thesis (MTech (Industrial Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / This thesis tests the Usability, Safety and Attractiveness Participatory Design model (USAP) in the field of inclusive fitness. The focus is on improving compatibility between elderly people and fitness products. Three participatory design (PO) workshops were carried out with potential users ranging from 20 to 80 years of age. The research not only includes current elderly people but also those who will be entering this age bracket in the next ten years. Although the main focus is on the elderly, younger participants were included, and acted as a transgenerational audit. The first PO session made known possible avenues for exploration; the second session introduced a new group of people to the research and acted as a check to see if a wider audience of older users had similar needs to those uncovered so far; the third session involved middle age participants who will be entering old age in the next ten years. Concepts were generated and participants commented and critiqued them.

Places designed for the elderly tend be stigmatising, which is predicated in its medical engineering background. The institutional nature of these places accelerates decline as it negatively impacts on the health of its residents, physically and psychologically disabling them. Spaces that support the wellbeing of residents can be identified by the presence of three characteristics: a sense of control over ones environment, a sense of access to social support and access to positive distraction. Huis Davidtsz is a frail care facility, located just west of Pretoria’s central business district, which has housed elderly people since 1968. The interior environment of Huis Davidtsz is dull and disabling and for this reason is selected as site for design intervention. In order to re-design Huis Davidtsz into a psychologically supportive environment the aforementioned characteristics of supportive space are translated into architectural design. Four elements of architectural space: floor, wall, ceiling and window, are manipulated to create an intimacy gradient. This gradient humanises the institution by establishing a range of spaces and a sense of territoriality. The unforgiving threshold between intimate and public space is moderated by subtle spatial indications of levels of intimacy. This provides Huis Davidtsz with the seven levels of intimacy associated with domestic spaces, enabling individuality and choice. The result is a comfortable and secure place for living. / Dissertation MInt(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted