treffbar - connecting neighbors
user research - design thinking
Our aim was it to establish regularities and rituals in a determined neighbourhood that will maintain the communication among each other. The project “treffbar“ (describing the status of being interested in an appointment - in German it derives from the word to meet - meetable) deals with interpersonal relations among a neighbourhood in Wuppertal - a city in western Germany with 300.000 inhabitants. The term neighborhood refers to three blocks of flats next to each other in a street of Wuppertal downtown. With several design thinking methods as interviews and cultural probes we got to know residents of those three neighbouring houses and could work out, that every of the participants wishes to have a closer relation to their neighbours, especially to the ones of their houses.
idea
As solution we developed a communication tool to interchange more efficiently within a block of flats. In every household treffbar“ serves an overview of the residents’ current needs or moods. The categories “staying at home“, “sitting in the garden“ and “going out for a drink“ help to co-ordinate the residents’ moods.
Placed in the hallway of every flat the residents can express at the touch of a button if they are interested in a joint activity. Do the residents want to have company a light is on in the other households. So the step to your neihbours’ door is now a simple thing.
Placed in the hallway of every flat the residents can express at the touch of a button if they are interested in a joint activity. Do the residents want to have company a light is on in the other households. So the step to your neihbours’ door is now a simple thing.
