Trinity's House

Bringing end of life care to the high street

About the project

Title: Trinity's House
Type of work: Service design
Date: October 2015 – December 2015
Extent of the project: 7 weeks, full-time

Royal Trinity Hospice is looking to open a new outpatient centre with a high street presense within the Northern boroughs of their catchment area. We worked with them to envision what this new centre might be; which new and existing services could be on offer, and how these could come together in a physical space. Trinity’s House is our vision for this new centre. We believe that by being a space that is welcoming and open to all — including the public — RTH will have a better chance of engaging with people earlier on, grow the awareness as to what they do, and begin normalising conversations around end of life.

I worked closely with Kay Dale, Yukari Iwamoto and Evadine Okoye on the project.

The design

We looked at, firstly, which services would be available, and secondly, how the centre could unfold physically. How you will move through Trinity’s House is key as not all services are available to everyone. We proposed to structure the centre around three layers of interactions: Public (including café and exhibition space), semi-public (featuring amongst other things a garden and space for drop-in sessions) and private (including quiet rooms and multi-purpose space for most outpatient services). These layers are reflected in the physical building, and offers a way to think about the types of services on offer. By starting to engage with the local community, you’re building relationships with people who might later on in life become volunteers, carers, elderly or perhaps face a life limiting illness.

Floor plan for Trinity's House

As part of the proposal, we presented a floor plan for what the new centre could look like, taking into account these three layers of interactions and services; public, semi-public, and private.

Floor plan for Trinity's House

The floor plan allowed you to separate the three different layers, and to read more about each room or area.

Folders for structured services

We also proposed that Royal Trinity Hospice begin to structure their service under the categories of carer, general public, elderly, and so on, as to make it easier for people to navigate the services available to them.

Article in the Independent

Our project and collaboration with Royal Trinity Hospice was featured in the Independent just before it went out of print. If you missed it, you can read the online version here.

Life Stages Framework

As a result of our research, we began to notice a pattern; the idea that every person is at different ‘life stages’ for death and dying. We used this framework to identify opportunities, and overall, to inform our proposal.

Life Stages - Services mapped

We used the life stages framework to map where Royal Trinity Hospice currently operates, and where the opportunities for expanding their services lie.

Their current premises v. the new centre

Whilst Royal Trinity Hospice's current premises will continue to provide outstanding end of life care, this new centre will focus on enabling people to live and feel better for longer.

Trinity's House logo Engaging earlier on

As previously mentioned, the concept for Trinity's House is founded on a belief that by starting to engage with the local community, you’re building relationships with people who might later on in life become volunteers, carers, elderly or perhaps face a life limiting illness.

Visualisation: External

Trinity’s House will have a high street presence, and it’s important that it feels open to everyone. By creating a space for end of life-related conversations to happen which isn’t cut off from society, Trinity can help to normalise death and dying, and grow the awareness as to what they do.

Visualisation: Information area

Trinity’s House should feel open and inviting. The entrance and information point will be part of the public space; it brings you a sense of Trinity-ness without feeling like you’re in a place that’s about death and dying. At Trinity’s House there’s no smell of disinfectant.

Visualisation: Garden

The garden will be Trinity's House's pride and joy. It opens up the building as well as mirrors the natural circle of life. Various outdoors activities will take place here; from gardening therapy to guided tours.

Visualisation: Kitchen

The third layer is centred around an open kitchen area. This is a shared space that brings people together over a cup of coffee, tea, or biscuit. This is where the elderly lady sits down after an exercise class to relax, and meets the lady who cares for her husband.

Work in Progress Show

We also showed our work to the public at the Royal College of Art's Work in Progress Show.

A glimpse of the process

Our research consisted of, amongst other things, attending events on death and dying, such as Death Cafés, taking part in or observing some of Trinity’s current services, and conducting in-depth interviews with ‘death experts’ and people who’ve experienced death and dying up close. On top of that, we held a dialogue exhibition, using 'design provocations' to trigger conversations, as a way to engage with the general public. As a result of all this research, we began to notice a pattern; the idea that every person is at different ‘life stages’ for death and dying. We used this framework to map where Royal Trinity Hospice currently operates, and where the opportunities for expanding their services lie. Later on in the project, we created a collection of ‘service cards’ that we presented to staff at Royal Trinity Hospice in order to elicit feedback.

Snuff it

We organised a dialogue exhibition in Old Street (East London) with the aim of engaging the general public in conversations around death, dying and end of life in the broadest sense. We called it 'Snuff it'.

Snuff it

We showcased various 'design provocations' (or conversation starters) and were there to explain and discuss them with people visiting and dropping in.

Build your own death

From Snuff it: Is there such a thing as a pick'n'mix menu for death? Instead of build-your-own-bear, it's a build-your-own-death folder.

Build your own death close-up Digital appearance

From Snuff it: What happens to your digital presence after you die? Will you memorialise, delete or keep your facebook profile as-is?

Question booth

From Snuff it: There are certain things that we don't want to share face-to-face with a stranger, so we created a question booth where people could record their answers to the more tricky and personal death-related questions.

Insight analysis

Going through the research, highlighting the important parts and identifying themes in order to extract the insights.

Insight analysis Group ideation

Group ideation session.

Mapping the services

Mapping their current services against the life stages framework in order to identify the opportunities.

The service cards

We created a deck of 'service cards' that we presented to staff at Royal Trinity Hospice. It helped us better understand their current services and provided an opportunity for us to discuss which services could and should be on offer at the new centre.

Sketching

Zoning and sketching the new centre's proposed three layers of interaction.

>>>>