When architects say they design for the future, they mean our future. And with the invention of the Massachusetts Institutes of Technology’s old age simulator suit, architects, and designers in other professions, are now able to feel for themselves how older people interact with spaces and products.
The AGNES (Age Gain Now Empathy System) is a full suit that relies heavily on bungee cords to create tension that simulates the bodily tensions and pressures a typical 75-year-old would experience. The helmet is bungeed to the torso, causing the wearer to bend forward; the wrists are bungeed to the hips, making reaching difficult (but inadvertently providing an excellent resistance-band workout); and the legs are bungeed to the waist, making walking more strenuous.
Vision is also impaired with a pair of glasses that make reading small print difficult. And while walking around in public spaces might make the wearer feel slightly foolish, this invention certainly has the potential to revolutionise the way architects and other creatives design everyday products, public spaces and elderly specific homes and items.
As the population continues to stay active for longer new buildings and products need to cater for the elderly, whose age group populous is higher now than it has ever been. Thinking beyond hand-rails, architects and designers need to get into the heads (and bodies) of the 70-something generation, walk their walk and see what their needs are first hand, so that future generations are able to live more comfortably as they enter their golden years.
More information: http://web.mit.edu
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