Trans RINA, Vol 153, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jul - Dec 2011
INCLUSIVE LUXURY: MAKING MOTOR YACHTS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL WITH STYLE
S McCartan, Coventry University, UK D McDonagh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (DOI No: 10.3940/rina.ijmd.2011.c1.2)
SUMMARY
This paper will discuss a unique inclusive design approach that accommodates a bespoke wheelchair within a luxury environment of a motor-yacht. The saloon seating area slides gracefully to allow the lift to raise the wheel chair from the bedroom in the hull. The bedroom has a larger shower room and resolved access to storage. This groundbreaking project leads the way in de-stigmatising disability, moving boat design towards a more inclusive field and opening up this leisure activity to an ever increasingly number of people with disabilities within our population.
The material landscapes (the products that fill our environments) we construct within our personal lives and inherit in public environments have a significant impact upon our daily experiences. They affect our work productivity, our feeling of well-being, and sense of being socially connected. The material landscape shapes the perception of our own independence. People should be empowered by design, but are often stymied by things that have been designed poorly.
1. INTRODUCTION
The products that we surround ourselves with have a significant impact upon our daily experiences and with the shift in demographics [1] it is becoming critical that designers and product developers are mindful increase in disabilities.
both customers and consumers with
The physical design of spaces and the absence of products that enable persons of various levels of ability to participate can exclude individuals with disabilities who may wish to take part in leisure activities within the context of boating. Leisure offers ideal opportunities to bring people with and without disabilities together in non-competitive, life changing and socially connected ways.
The leisure marine industry in Europe is a significant
sector of the European leisure market. Some key figures of the leisure marine industry in Europe, as reported by the European Boating Industry (EBI) [2] who represent the interests of the European leisure marine industry and its members [EBI website] are as follows: 23.4 billion EUR of annual revenue (figure before the crisis 2008-
2009); 36 million European people practice boating
(sailing or motor boating); in the region of 4,500 marinas provide 1.75 million berths in European waters (whether inland or on coastal areas).
The Water sports Participation Survey [3] provides robust estimates of the level of participation in a range of boating and water sport activities across the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2010. It had a sample of 6,000 UK residents and covered a list of 12 boating and water sport activities. The report reviewed participation by age, gender, socio-economic group as well as life stage, ethnicity, and working status. It reported that in terms of
participation by age, motor boating/cruising was the only activity with the highest participation rate among the over 55-age group, also commonly referred to as ‘baby boomers’.
to the
Extrapolating these trends on a global basis helps to identify unique opportunities for industrial designers in the marine industry to empower an aging client base through inclusive design by responding to their evolving needs as a user. This recognition allows for enabling of that sector to engage in marine leisure for a longer duration of their lifespan, and at the same time increasing the annual revenue of the industry through growth in this new sector of the market.
1.1 ACTIVE AGING
People are living longer and over their lifespan may develop a range of disabilities that are no longer perceived as a barrier to a high quality of life. With increased user expectation of products, a sound balance of functional and supra-functional (e.g. cultural, social, aspirations, emotional) needs ensure that success of a product. Success is not only the purchase of a product, in this case a motor yacht, but rather the broader experience of use, extended use, user-product attachment. Design is
bonding and less about generating more
products and about creating positive experiences. Active aging relies upon extending a person’s independence, social connectedness, healthy activity and ultimately positive experiences [4].
A common misconception is that people with disability do not have disposable income. Another misconception is that disability affects other people. This could not be further from the truth. The United Nations estimates that more than 500 million people in the world are disabled because of mental, physical, or sensory impairment. There are more than 52 million people living with
©2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects C-15
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