" Wheelchairs are not always accessible even at wheelchair accessible facilities.
We saw this as an urgent design task."
Many public facilities have become wheelchair accessible. However, even in such facilities, wheelchairs are not always made available for use. Wheelchairs are often stored away. When they are not stored away, they take up space and often obstruct the path. Our goal is to design a wheelchair that can be compactly stored and easy to access so that people with different physical strength can fully access public facilities.
When designing assistive products such as wheelchairs that need to meet functional and safety requirements, it is easy to overlook the experience of users. We set out to imrpove upon the conventional frame design that is often used for wheelchairs and imagined the appearance of a familiar piece of furniture. We used wood for most parts which users touch to provide warmth and a natural texture, inspired by simple and minimalist design.