Organised by the Institute for Human-Centered Design (IHCD) 17-18 November 2010
The event
The Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD) promotes design that works for everyone across the spectrum of ability and age and enhances human experience. Founded in Boston in 1978 it has been a long term collaborator of the Helen Hamlyn Centre, so it was a natural partner for the first 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge to be held on American soil.
The IHCD was also host to the Helen Hamlyn Centre's Trading Places exhibition that celebrates ten years of the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge .
Boston is an unusual hotbed of architecture and has more architects per capita than any other city in the country. Each year it hosts Build Boston - a large scale trade show for the US building industry accompanied by an international conference on the built environment that includes 200 workshops.
Build Boston takes place at the World Trade Center and this was the venue for the presentations by the five teams who took part in the 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge as well as being the first showing of the Trading places exhibition before it moved to IHCD.
The brief
The brief centred on the outdoor Quincy Market, one of the most important tourist destinations in Boston with 18 million visitors annually. The teams were each assigned a route from one of five mass transit stations to the atrium of its Faneuil Hall.
Built as a gift to the city in 1742 by Peter Faneuil, Boston's wealthiest merchant, Faneuil Hall was home to merchants, fishermen, and meat and produce sellers, and provided a platform for famous orators. It was where colonists first protested the Sugar Act in 1764 and established the doctrine of 'no taxation without representation.'
The teams were asked to walk the route with their design partner and design an intervention or set of interventions that would transform the visitor experience.
The results
Working through the night , they came up with some supremely innovative ideas which they presented to the jury of experts at Build Boston the next day. The judges included Adaptive Environments founder Elaine Ostroff.
Team Haymarket, led by Nick Jehlen, Creative Director of The Action Mill won the Best Idea prize for Petal, their inclusive subversion of the fire hydrant with the Best Presentation prize going to Team Park Street led by Josh Burgel of Crosby/Schlessinger/Smallridge for Street Stop, an integrated wayfinding signage system.
