Fitness: using a systems thinking approach to make it more sustainable, educational, and a means to reconnect with nature."
Tim Coffin
ABSTRACT:
Over the past number of decades, research has been increasingly drawn towards understanding and quantifying the benefits of exercise and the benefits of spending time outdoors. However, due to urbanization, technological advancements, and the advent of modern machinery and transportation, the connection between the two appears to be growing apart.
This project begins by analyzing the many issues with the current exercise industry/paradigm using the Living Principles for Design Framework. By utilizing the framework’s four streams – culture, environment, people, and economy – to categorize information, it provides a holistic view that identifies leverage points and points of intervention to be considered for subsequent fitness trail designs, to strengthen the connection between the human body and nature.
Emphasizing those leverage points, a human-centric approach to design (Design Thinking) was then applied to further explore and develop possible solutions. To help accomplish this task, three different focus groups of varied backgrounds and ages were created. The focus groups were primarily used to gain empathy, engagement, and collaboration to develop out-of-the-box thinking and design possibilities by the user, for the user!
The resulting prototype developed for the client depicts an outdoor trail with four main spaces (each representing a ‘nature-inspired’ obstacle) located at consistent intervals throughout the trail. A fifth space, located inside the circumference of the trail was created for the purpose of stretching and meditation to help complete the mind-body-nature connection.
In the end, it can be argued that a human-centric design approach to create an outdoor fitness platform (one made of sustainable materials) not only provides a means to draw people outdoors, but:
· educates and brings awareness to sustainable living;
· advocates for a more sustainable means to exercise & achieve fitness; and
· strengthens an individual’s connection between their body and nature.
BIO:
Tim Coffin is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts Program in Sustainable Design (MASD), taken through the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD). He has spent the last 19 years employed as an officer and pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), flying high performance turbo prop and jet aircraft. He has been directly involved with flight instruction, flying standards and evaluation, and operational planning. Tim is currently transitioning from the RCAF to pursue other business/entrepreneurial ambitions with sustainability at the forefront. He is an enthusiastic self-starter with a positive, solution-seeking attitude.