Project Lead: Gail Ramster and Prof. Jo-Anne Bichard

Number of participants: 15

Duration: 3 days

Project Outline:

“I know of no other public space that is a better indicator of social values..”

The Game of Thrones AcrossRCA workshop will introduce students to the wider social, cultural and functional aspects of publicly accessible toilets, using the college’s own facilities across all three sites.

Toilet provision is one aspect of the built environment that will attract every possible member of the public. It is also a key interaction between the user and design.

It will give students the opportunity for wider design thinking in inclusive and user-centred design, how space is used, how products help or hinder use of space and the importance of service, communication and environmental considerations in design.

The workshop will also extend design into areas of social and cultural values such as gender, belief, public/private, health and hygiene.

This workshop is suitable for students who are interested in public-facing and community focused practice. It will introduce students to inclusive and user-centred design, on-site field research, reflexive practices in design and incorporate a number of design research methods.

Students will work in multi-disciplinary groups to design a provocation (or series of-) to address the issues they identified in the field research.

Timetable:

Day 1: Wednesday 6th November:
1.30 – 2.00pm: Intros (outline of workshop/ yourselves, us)
2.00 – 2.30pm: Share individual items, ideas or experiences relating to publicly accessible toilets.
2.30 – 3.30pm: Gail/Jo-Anne – talks on design and inclusive research from toilets perspective.
4.00 – 4.30pm: Guest speaker from Arts/Humanities (TBC)
4.30 – 5.15pm:  Form groups, assign briefs. Discussion.
5.15 – 5.30pm:  Plan for Thursday.

Day 2: Thursday 7th November: 
AM – Team visits to their sites to explore toilets and conduct field research.
Tutorials provided by Gail/Jo-Anne
PM – Develop ideas

Day 3: Friday 8th November:
AM – Create, print, install.
PM – Present your design provocations and reflections.