Abstract:

As part of the 1st Edition of Individual Programs of Study conducted in the form of Project Based Learning, an interdisciplinary team composed of students and their guardians from two faculties of the Silesian University of Technology: Faculty of Architecture and Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science was created. The aim of the team was to create an application for VR goggles that would require from the user to perform everyday activities in a model apartment for an elderly person. Perception of space in the application is limited as a result of a cummulation of eye disfunctions/illnesses characteristic of old age. In the model environment the tester is moving around in a wheelchair. The name of the project: "Lens 60+" refers to the activities undertaken by Fundacja Laboratorium Architektury 60+ (LAB60+) /60+ Architecture Laboratory Fundation/ with the aim to raise social awareness of the problems that elderly people face in private and public spaces, resulting from the existing architectural solutions which do not take into account their needs and limitations.

Designing and implementing the application required cooperation of persons with specialist knowledge and skills within the scope of interior design, universal design and computer science. It was only thanks to combining these competences that the final result in the form of the program could be created. During the process of design, the students drew on the experience of socio-economic organisations such as: Fundacja Laboratorium Architektury 60+ (Lab60+) and the 4Experience company, which helped in creating the final application, turning it into a tool which can be used for educational purposes for a wide variety of users. The 4Experience company, providing services within the scope of technological consulting and virtual reality software, facilitated the creation of the application for the VR goggles by sharing their skills connected with using virtual reality at the implementation stage of the project. Thanks to the experts from Lab60+ the model space designed in the project uses architectural solutions which take into account the requirements of elderly persons. Moreover, the students visited the Geriatric Hospital in Katowice and had the opportunity to confront their ideas with doctors and patients in the hospital and in this way to gain practical knowledge on the subject. The application that was created in an attractive form (a game of the Escape Room type) raises awareness of the problems and needs of elderly persons. Moreover, the application may be used to test, in virtual reality, architectural solutions for people with different eye disfunctions/illnesses as well as for people in wheelchairs.

Keywords:

Immersive Virtual Reality, Inclusive Design, Architectural Design Process.