Projects

Working with the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art, Lacock Gullam developed a project titled ‘Is that my bus?’ in response to the DBA Design Challenge 2004. The project explores issues of accessibility at the bus stop for a wide range of people with varying abilities and impairments.

In addition to reformatting the physical environment of the shelter, the scheme proposed an improvement in the provision of real time information.

A remote trigger is used by a visually impaired person to play an announcement that helps locate the shelter. A smartcard, the same one as used for paying the fare (Oyster or similar), is used to trigger audio announcements about upcoming arrivals of buses. The information is also visually displayed within the shelter.

The smartcard carries information regarding then user’s specific impairment and sends this to approaching buses to forewarn the driver of any assistance waiting passengers may need.

The project investigated the benefits audible signing can offer in the wider context of the community.

Lacock Gullam received a commendation for its work, DBA Director Sean Lewis commenting on behalf of the judges that "We loved the depth of the research and the responsiveness shown towards the physical and psychological needs of the user. The team had come up with a thorough and sensitive piece of design that could be implemented immediately."