walk with me

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WALK WITH ME!

WALK WITH ME!A collaboration between KHIB, HIB and BAS at Fantoft 2014

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«Ageing in Bergen» is a research project organized by professor Yanki Lee from Hong Kong Design Studio. In collaboration with students from BAS, KHIB and HIB she arran-ged a two week workshop where selected areas around the light rail route were map-ped.

The purpose of the survey was to meet with the locals and hear their opinions about the area. Through the mapping each group would come up with an idea/solution to improve the area. The idea of collaborating with locals is to make solutions that works for everyone, based on experiences made on site.

The Universal design part is about equa-lity through accessibility. The purpose of the concept is that buildings, products and environments are designed in a way that everyone can benefit from it, whether you are healthy, old, disabled or inhibited.

Universal design is design for all, which is why it is often called inclusive design. By working with specified problem zones in Fantoft, a master plan has been made. This plan can be divided into several parts, and finished as the area is beeing developed. In the end, one will have surroundings that is possible to use for everyone.

INTRODUCTION

WALK WITH ME - FUTURE PROPOSAL FOR FANTOFT, 2014

Ageing in Bergen Universal Design

FantoftIn this particular project, the area of Fantoft along the new Lightrail in Bergen is used as a prototype for the” Walk with me” -Plan. The Idea is that the concept could be applied to several districts of Bergen, and be a part of the development as the areas along the lightrail is beeing densified. The solutions discussed in this booklet is the necessary actions, while other suggestions such as reshaping of the terrain is actions that would increase the equality between people better.

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Introduction

Facts and Statistics

Interviews

Mapping

Visual challenges

Light mapping

Sound mapping

Mapping of sunlight

Difficult areas

The Universal Plan

1:1 sketching

Connecting Paths

Lighting

CONTENT

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PART 1SITUATION ANALYSIS


Facts and Statistics

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A

B

A:Care Home with 116 people.

B:Student homes with 1300 people.

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Tyggen (98) lives in an apartment at Fantoft Care Home.

We walked to the lightrail station to have a slice of lemon cake with him. This was the first time he had crossed the lightrail tracks. Tyggen likes the idea of a new hi-king route between the elderly homes and the student blocks.

I miss a place to go for a short afternoon walk, or after dinner; a round trip, so that you could walk it both ways. That would be splendid! Then everything could happen right here, away from dangerous traffic.

On the way back, Tyggen showed us his shortcut to the shop.



Interviews

” I miss a place to go for a short afternoon walk, or after dinner; a round trip, so that you could walk it both ways. That would be splendid! ”

From my apartment, I usually take a shortcut, I don´t walk all the way around. We will see if we can get through there today. It´s so typical for this country, that they make a whole lot of good places; and then there are a few places like this that just fail. It´s hard to walk here; when it´s too wet we have to walk the long way around.

If it can help, Tyggen sends his regards to the municipality – with hopes for a better hiking future for Fantoft.

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”...when it´s too wet we have to walk the long way around.”

This is Tyggens shortcut between the Care Home and the shop.

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Interviews

” I try to be outside a couple of hours every day. ”

Nina (83) has been living at Fantoft Care Home for 2 years. She tells us that the elderly living here often take walks in the area. We walk a lot around Storetveitsmarken. Sometimes I have to grab people to get them outside with me. You know, you really have to get som fresh air and move your legs. If not, you can risk ending up stuck in bed.

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It´s important for Nina to have acti-vities and be with others:

You can´t just drop out of things, you need to get out of your room. We have movies, concerts, bingo nights, we share the meals, every day we have coffee together at five. It really helps. We also go out for a walk together, go to the shop, have a good time. We do the same things we would do at home; nothing extraordinary.

She also enjoys watching the ligh-trail activity.

I haven´t used it myself. It is just around the corner, you can just go there and jump on it. It´s really nice; especially for the students. There is always a lot of people there.

It is difficult for Nina to get her friends out, as many of them have limited hearing and blurry sight. A shorter path in the neighbourhood would make this possible.

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As a tool to map the problems and difficulties at Fantoft, the issues found were transfe-red directly onto an aerial map. On the map below the different two different paths between the elderly center and the shop is shown with yellow lines. The red areas are problematic to reach or cross.



Mapping of problem areas

Fantoft: Accessability

Klubb Fantoft

possible solutions for improving pathway

shortcut to meny:not for wheels /mud, loose gravel

only possible way to get from block C/D/E/F/G/H to Klubb Fantoft on wheels

- unclear car/pedestrian relation- roadsigns blocking parts of road- hill steep for ascending on wheels

- difficult to cross with wheelchair- trip-over edges- no warning on bybanen arriving - cars crossing

stairs leading between levels

slope too steep for use of wheelchair

no immediate access from block level to park below

AB

Care Home-meny:

road A = 557 steps7:50 min

road B = 367 steps5:45 min

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Fantoft: Visibility, light

ground level acces to park:dark, gloomy - yet roofed and easy accessibleupper level clearly lightened.

planned building blockingview lines

- unclear warning line at crossover- lack of light- feeling of unsafety

- grey area: lack of contrasts in color- confusion area: when entering parking lot

- functioning color/light con-trasts: SiB hall, flower beds, cars, white parking stripes

Care Home: visually clear design

Poor lighting around shortcut at night

no lights during night

From the mapping, it became clear that the area has got many issues. Many of these problems are not difficult to solve, such as for example lighten up the darker areas.

The overall aim is to make as many areas as possible available for as many people as possible.

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Based on the interviews we conducted at Fantoft, we wanted to experience the observations for ourselves. To be able to observe Fantoft from a visual impaired point of view, we created glasses with minimal opacity. The glasses were covered in matte transparent film, where outlines and colours gave a blurred perception of the surroundings.

Being able to navigate in an environment with visual impairment gave us first hand experience of what needed to be done. Experiencing the feeling of being lost in a huge fog, where you are cut off from the safety of your surroundings. Feeling abandoned and isolated, and relying on what you could recognize in shapes and colours. Desperately looking for familiarities that created a sense of security. To create a sense of safety the area needs guiding lines to differentiate between various zones in the area and terrain. The buildings need more colours and texture to make it easier to navigate to important facilities, such as main entrances and stairwells.



Visual Challenges

Colour contrasts, as well as sharp lines works very well for people with reduced sight.

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The picture to the right shows how big difference colours and contrasts means for people with reduced sight.

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During interviews, people told us that Fantoft lacked lights during the night. To find out whether this was true, we went there a rainy evening at 7 pm. We found that both the care home and student homes had guiding lights outside their own buildings. The area between them, however, could at some points be very poorly lighted.

The road from the care home to the grocery store had light posts, but the distance between them was sometimes to far to light up much. The old walkway behind the student homes, going up to the apartment area above the care home, did not have any lights at all. We also found the lightrail crossover unsafe, since the differentiati-on between the walking area and the tracks was more blurred in the dark.



Light Mapping at night

The area around the Care Home use strong repetating lights to guide people.

The student homes also light up spe-cific areas, so the contrast between light and dark functions as guidelines.

The walkway between the Care Home and the shop has got lights, but they are to dark and distant from each other to work as guidelines.

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Area 1: No warning sign giving you a heads-up for when the light rail arrives. Even people with good hearing are forced to be extra careful when crossing the rail . Poor visibility to the left (from Meny) due to a sudden turn in the rail, but also towards the opposite side whe-never the light rail coming from Slettebakken arrives to the platform in Fantoft, blocking the sight over the platform on the other side.

Area 2:No crosswalk for pedestrians. People suffe-ring from hearing loss is required to be extra cautious when crossing this crossroad. it is impossible to notice the cars coming from west due to poor sight because of vegetation and the topography of the area.

Area 3:A big parking lot with no sidewalks. Especi-ally people with hearing loss are forced to be constantly cautious and observant towards their surroundings when in the parking lot, especially due to sudden reversing cars.

coloured sidewalks would make this safer for everyone.


Sound Mapping

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Mapping of Sunlight

A B

C

DE

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Based on observations on site, as well as datas from Karverket/vektorform, the most sunny areas through a day has been mapped. The data on the map shown has been taken on .vernal equinix (20th of March), and has been prototyped a february at noon.

The focus in relation to sunlight has been to make the sunny areas available to the public. The areas has been divided into A-E, where A is the sunniest spot.

As area A-C is to be occupied by larger buildings in the nearest future, area E-D is also planned to be made accessible.

Tyggen (98) is enjoying his first trip over the railway, and would love to have it as an accessible option.

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Problem Areas

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Problem area B1-B5:

- 3 heightmeters altitude

- Solved by creating bridge from porch to terrain, and paving already exis-ting pathways.

Problem area C1-C2:


- Solved by 120 lengthmeters pathway. This gives a slope of 1:20 + connect to existing pathways.

Problem area A:

- Rough terrain and dangerous

crossing of parking lot.- Solved by paving the path.

Problem area D1-D2:

- 1:7 slope

- Solved by straightening the terrain to 1:13, by increasing the length to 40 me-ters.

Problem area C3-C4:


- Solved by a 100 lenghtmeter pathway.This gives a slope of 1:20 + connect to existing pathways.

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Today, the area around the Care Home and student homes consists of only a few universally de-signed paths where it is possible to move around in a wheelchair. In order to move between one path and another, one would have to use car or stairs.

The idea behind the master plan is to connect all these paths into one universally designed cir-culating route. By paving and improving the areas between the already existing paths, it becomes possible for all people to move between the attractive areas at Fantoft.

PART 2SOLUTIONS


The Universal Plan

We want to remove the physical barriers, and make solutions usa-ble for everyone, used equally by everyone.

Suggestion of cafè in the mailbox- and garbagehouse

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The Route

PART 2SOLUTIONS

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PART 2SOLUTIONS


1:1 Sketching at site

”When I go to the store, I prefer to use this shortcut”

Tyggen, 98

Working at the site, we have used the technique of 1:1 sketching, which is using real materials in full scale to see qualities of the space, and how it may be. We used white broad paper to reflect light in the dark room, as well as observing hot the bright material functions as a guideline on the dark asphalt.

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PART 2SOLUTIONS

Differenciating the colours the surface would encourage people to use the crossroad instead of crossing along with the cars.

Paving the area between the Care Home and the centre would make the pathway easier to use, as well as shortening the distance.

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By connecting the already existing paths into a universally designed circulating route, everyone can enjoy the sunny spots, as well as not having to be scared to move from one place to another.

Spaces at Fantoft that today are abandoned and shabby, will through the universal plan be activa-ted, and may change their appearance to something better.

PART 2SOLUTIONS


Connecting Paths

This is how we imagine the pathway between the care home and the store could look like.

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PART 2SOLUTIONS

By continuing the qualities of light and vegetation we discovered through the 1:1 sketching below the student homes, as well as improving the already existing guidelines, the enormous area could continue to function as a park even when new buildings are built around it.

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What could be done to improve the lighting at Fantoft?

We brought a bag full of flashlights to sketch some possible solutions at the site. By implementing light in the structures that are already there, different elements of Fantoft could function as leading lines also at night. What if the crossover changed light when the lightrail was approaching the station? Or if the water running from the roof of the student homes´ terrasse could also light up the walkway underneath it? Maybe the trees could function as light posts, or the road itself could be lit up around its edges.

PART 2SOLUTIONS


Lighting

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Lightrail Crossing

PART 2SOLUTIONS

Fiber light cables between the tracks will make people easily able to find their way over the lightrail passing, even at night and winter.

Connecting the lights to the realtime system, that changes the colour as the lightrail arri-ves, shows that it is unsafe to cross.

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When all the observations are put together with guidelines for universal design, the pathway becomes a universal route through the local area around the lightrail stop. It can be used both by locals and visitors, for joggers, runners and strollers. A nice place for Tyggen to take his morning walk, and a trip that is short enough to make Nina engange her friends to join her to go outside.

PART 2SOLUTIONS

Connecting Paths

Original photos of the two situations

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PART 2SOLUTIONS

If the pathway is to be put right above the lightrail-tunnel, the gradient of the slope for universal design will be kept below 1:20, as well as it becomes possible to move quickly between the two areas without risking anything.

By diffrenciating the width of the pathway, it appears more as a dynamic and free route, where one could stop and sit down.

”The elders here enjoy to watch the lightrail from here” Charlotte, working at the care home

Thanks to all contributors!

walk with me

Documents

area of fantoft

short afternoon walk

fantoft care home

future proposal

new lightrail

inclusive design

situation analysiswalk

districts of bergen