This week was a pretty relaxed week in class. On Tuesday we listened to LOLA shows and on Thursday we interviewed Mr. Vincent for our final project. The LOLA shows this week were all geared towards designing for the needs of older citizens. One LOLA show presented the idea of Granny Pods. Instead of nursing homes or living with family, granny pods allows for loved ones to live safe and close but have their own space. These high tech medical cottages include lighted flooring, first aid kits, defibrillators and cameras that allow the family to keep and eye on their loved one and be alerted if they are in trouble. Another discussed grocery stores catered to senior citizens with non shiny floors, wider aisles, bright lighting, quiet hours, automatic doors and other features designed to make shopping easier for them. One that I found very interesting talked about how adaptive clothing allows elderly individuals with arthritis to dress themselves easier. Some examples were snap dresses and Velcro pants. This was a great example of empathic design. Another, the Be Close monitoring system, has sensors to allow caregivers to monitor their loved one. This allows elderly people to live alone and still maintain their privacy and independence, but their caregivers or loved ones are close by and alerted if they are in danger or need help. On Thursday we interviewed Mr. Vincent, this was very helpful because we learned a lot more information than we had from his probes package. From his probes package we had concluded that he loved the outdoors, and that he enjoyed art, nature and cooking. After the in class interview, we felt like we had a better glimpse into his life. We discovered that he likes gardening, he has two guys who help him out around the house, comfort is key in his daily outfit, and he enjoys shopping at the habitat for humanity store. He was very funny and personable and we loved getting to interview with him. My group has decided to make Mr. Vincent a sustainable greenhouse attached to his house so that he can grow his own produce even with the constantly changing weather here in Stillwater. We think he would enjoy this because we know he likes gardening and cooking and this would allow him to grow and cook his own fresh food with easy access. We are going to be using the theories of Biophelia, Empathic Design, Industrial Ecology, and Human Needs. Biophelia has to do with Mr. Vincent’s love of nature and gardening, Empathic Design is designing for what Mr. Vincent enjoys and for his comfort and ease, Industrial Ecology relates to our idea to compost the produce scraps so that there is no waste from the greenhouse, and the Human Needs aspect is designing the greenhouse based off of Mr. Vincent’s needs and interests as well as others. I am excited to see what more we can brainstorm and create in our final project, I think we have a really great idea for a product that not only Mr. Vincent would be able to enjoy, but anyone who wanted to try out growing their own produce.