For more than 4 years we have been working together with renowned organisations such as the Helix Center of the Imperial College of London and Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW). We released a series of manuals with design guidelines that focus on the needs of patients, families and the healthcare personnel. And above all, we shared our methodology capable of bringing together people from different backgrounds and perspectives around the delicate issue of paediatric palliative care.
creating the documentation in order to share our design methodologies on Human-centred and User Experience design to people coming from other fields and background;
sharing the state of the art in the world of hospices, with a particular focus on the situation in the Anglo-Saxon world, thanks to the support by Imperial College London and the Helix Centre;
identifying case studies and best practices ranging from projects, products and hardware solutions in relation to the project scope.
Sharing knowledge, vocabulary and approaches is always key. The co-design tables brought together very different professions: doctors, caregivers, family representatives, experts from associations and institutions, engineers, designers and architects… all sitting around the same table working together putting the needs of patients and families at the core of the discussion.
The complexity of the project was managed through an iterative process. The reports and analyses were constantly updated and integrated as new knowledge was acquired or new decisions taken during the co-design sessions. Not having decisions set in a top-down mode provides the flexibility to tailor to perfect solutions both in the space and in the infrastructure of the hospice.
The process resulted in the definition of design and development guidelines in various areas including very technical ones, such as the indication of technological supports in the various spaces of the hospice, from the in-patient rooms to the reception area. The main concept that emerged was the idea of having Living Labs: laboratories within the hospice that can function both as specialised spaces for supporting care (ie. artistic, motor, recreational and service activities) and as places for research and experimentation. The Living Lab stems out key principles such as relationships, self-expression, flows, holistic approach, personalisation and transdisciplinarity.