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Co-design makes ageing-in-place design more useful because the people who live with a problem help define it, test ideas and improve the result. In Episode 83 of Talking Architecture & Design, Professor Oya Demirbilek explains why that approach applies far beyond specialist aged-care equipment. Homes, door hardware, bathrooms, digital services and health technologies all work better when older people and people with disabilities have a meaningful role in shaping them.
The episode, released on 16 August 2021, runs for 41 minutes. Demirbilek is a Professor of Industrial Design at UNSW whose work connects accessible products, product semantics, empathy and inclusive design. Her central test is practical: a project must solve the right problem, be intuitive and usable, and be desirable enough that people want to use it.
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Ageing in place means remaining at home and continuing everyday activities for as long as possible, rather than treating a move into supported accommodation as the default outcome. That goal changes the design brief. A home must support changing strength, reach, balance, vision, hearing, memory and confidence without making the resident feel that the space has become clinical or restrictive.
Demirbilek’s contribution is to treat this as a design problem that should be explored with the people affected. The episode listing presents co-design and technology as tools for creating better futures for an ageing population, while her UNSW profile places the same method in a wider context: products people buy, environments, systems, services and broader human experiences. The subject is therefore not limited to medical devices or retirement housing.
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Her aim is consistent with the quotation reported in the episode companion material: “So the aim for many is to age at home for as long as possible, so we have to be able to survive in our homes as long as possible while still being able to do everything.” Designing for that outcome means examining ordinary details that can become difficult, from opening a door to moving safely through a bathroom or understanding a digital control.
What co-design means in practice
Co-design is not a late-stage consultation in which a finished product is shown to users for approval. It gives end-users a role in articulating needs and proposing ideas before the design direction is fixed. Their contribution can expose an incorrect assumption, reveal a workaround that professionals had missed or identify a social concern that technical specifications do not capture.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe method does not guarantee a successful product. Designers still have to interpret evidence, resolve conflicting requirements, meet safety obligations and develop a viable solution. Co-design improves the definition of the problem and the quality of decisions; it is not a substitute for engineering, clinical advice, building regulation or usability testing.
A useful co-design sequence
- Find the people who experience the situation. Include older residents with different abilities, as well as family members or carers when they are part of the activity. A single “typical older user” cannot represent the range of ageing experiences.
- Explore the desired life, not only the failure. Ask what people want to continue doing at home, how they want rooms to feel and what independence means to them. This produces a more useful brief than a list of impairments alone.
- Let participants describe and make. Conversations, sketches, mock-ups and demonstrations allow people to express needs that may be difficult to put into a formal questionnaire.
- Translate input into design requirements. Demirbilek’s doctoral work used Quality Function Deployment to connect collected end-user input with design decisions. The translation should remain traceable: designers need to know which user need each requirement addresses.
- Return concepts for review. Participants should be able to comment on proposed concepts, add ideas and point out problems. This feedback loop is where an initial interpretation is corrected.
- Check use in the real setting. A design that works in a workshop may fail in a familiar bathroom, hallway or kitchen. Test physical reach, lighting, noise, instructions, cleaning and the presence of another person.
The door-and-handle study: a domestic example
Demirbilek’s doctoral thesis provides a specific illustration. Older end-users took part in sessions about doors and door handles. First, they discussed and designed the kind of home they wanted to age in. They then reviewed concepts developed from that input, commented on them and added ideas for further improvement.
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This order matters. Starting with the home people want avoids reducing the exercise to “make the handle easier to grip.” A handle is connected to the door’s height, swing, surrounding clearance, appearance, privacy and the user’s sense of control. A technically accessible fitting may still be rejected if it looks institutional, catches clothing or does not suit the household.
The study is evidence for an iterative method, not a recommendation for one particular handle or a claim that every lever design performs equally well. It does show why small household elements deserve attention. A lever door handle can be a practical example of a detail that users help rethink, alongside the larger question of how a home should feel as abilities change.
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Accessible design aims to make ordinary activities possible for as many people as reasonably practicable. In an ageing-in-place home, that can involve physical layout, controls, information, maintenance and emotional comfort at the same time.
Entry and circulation
- Doors, thresholds and handles should be considered together, including the force needed to open them and the space available for a person using a mobility aid.
- Routes should remain understandable in different lighting conditions and should not depend on perfect balance, vision or memory.
- Controls and storage should be reachable without unsafe stretching, twisting or climbing.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are a particularly important environment because wet surfaces, transfers, confined space and privacy combine several risks. The ICED15 paper on the Livable Bathrooms survey reports that older Australians contributed experience and advice during the survey’s development. The resulting information was intended to inform bathroom products, policy and design standards.
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The survey was mailed to a stratified random sample of 16,524 people over age 60 drawn from the Australian Electoral Roll. That number is the sample selected, not the number of responses received. It demonstrates an attempt to understand needs at population scale, while co-design sessions provide the richer explanations behind individual choices. Together, these approaches can help designers ask better questions about layout, support, cleaning, storage and dignity.
Products and visual character
Inclusive design does not require every home to look like a clinic. Demirbilek’s work in product semantics considers how objects communicate and how older age can be made more physically and emotionally comfortable. Appearance, familiarity and perceived normality can influence whether someone adopts a product. A solution that performs well but signals dependence may be left unused.
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The episode connects co-design with technology, but the available episode listing and profile do not establish specific smart-home devices, sensors, platforms or measured outcomes. It is therefore more accurate to discuss the conditions technology should meet than to attribute a particular gadget to the recording.
Demirbilek’s stated criteria provide a practical screen for any proposed health technology:
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- The lightweight wooden handles provide extra comfort and ease during long painting processes like walls, trims, cabinets, and doors.
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| Question | What to examine with users |
|---|---|
| Does it solve the real problem? | Is the difficulty important in daily life, and have users described it in their own terms? |
| Is it intuitive? | Can a person understand what to do without memorising an unusual sequence or reading lengthy instructions? |
| Is it usable? | Can people with differing vision, hearing, dexterity, cognition and mobility operate it reliably in their home? |
| Is it desirable? | Would residents choose to use it, and does it fit the home’s appearance, routines and values? |
| Does it work for the wider household? | Can family members or carers support it without taking control away from the resident? |
Technology should also fail safely. A connected control that stops working must not leave someone unable to open a door, enter a bathroom or summon help. Designers need to consider power loss, connectivity, false alarms, privacy, maintenance and what happens when the original user’s abilities change.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why invisible disabilities and families matter
Accessibility is broader than what can be seen. The UNSW profile reports Demirbilek’s research context with the figures “1 in 5 people globally have some form of disability” and “80% of the disabilities are invisible.” The profile excerpt does not identify the original statistical publisher, so these should be understood as figures reported by UNSW in that profile rather than independently verified estimates here.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe episode companion material attributes another concise observation to Demirbilek: “Many disabilities are invisible.” A person may be managing fatigue, reduced hearing, cognitive load, pain or anxiety while appearing to move through a space normally. If designers recruit only people whose access needs are immediately visible, they can miss barriers in instructions, sound, glare, timing and social interaction.
Those effects also reach beyond the primary user. The companion material quotes Demirbilek saying: “There are older people with a wide range of disabilities, and they have friends and families who are also affected indirectly by the disability in some way. That means we need more inclusive design solutions that work for as many people as possible, and ideally, for all.” A bathroom, entrance or digital service should therefore be assessed for the person using it and for the people who assist, visit, clean or share the space.
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A decision framework for choosing between design concepts
When a project produces several possible layouts, products or interfaces, co-design evidence can be organized without pretending that one option is universally best. Compare concepts against the needs identified by participants and document trade-offs.
| Comparison axis | Questions to ask | Evidence to record |
|---|---|---|
| User need | Which specific activity or obstacle does the concept address? | Participant statements, observed tasks and the consequences of not solving the problem. |
| Usability and intuitiveness | Can users understand and operate it on the first attempt and later without assistance? | Task observations, errors, reach or force requirements and feedback in context. |
| Accessibility across abilities | How does it work for differences in mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and stamina? | Input from a varied participant group, including invisible disabilities where relevant. |
| Desirability | Do people want the solution in their home, and does it preserve dignity and choice? | Preferences, emotional reactions, appearance concerns and willingness to adopt. |
| Fit with the home | Does it suit existing space, routines, cleaning and future adaptation? | Measurements, maintenance tasks, household feedback and installation constraints. |
This framework prevents a familiar mistake: selecting the concept that is easiest to specify while ignoring the one people will actually use. It also makes disagreement visible. One participant may prioritize a low-effort handle, another may prioritize a discreet appearance, and a carer may need a clear indication that a door is locked. The design decision should explain how those needs were balanced.
How architects, product designers and clients can apply the method
For a home renovation
- Map the resident’s important routines, such as entering, bathing, cooking, receiving visitors and resting.
- Invite the resident and relevant supporters to describe barriers and desired experiences before drawing solutions.
- Use full-scale mock-ups or temporary samples for handles, clearances, controls and bathroom layouts.
- Review concepts with participants, record changes and confirm which requests could not be accommodated and why.
- After installation, observe real use at different times of day and adjust details that create friction.
For a product or service team
- Recruit participants who vary in age, ability, living arrangement and confidence with technology.
- Test the problem definition before investing in a polished prototype.
- Provide accessible ways to contribute, including conversation, drawing, physical demonstration and alternative communication.
- Separate user preference from regulatory or safety constraints, then show how both shaped the design.
- Evaluate adoption and continued use, not only whether a person can complete a one-time test.
What Episode 83 does—and does not—establish
The episode listing establishes the release date, 41-minute duration, Demirbilek’s role and the framing around co-design, technology and ageing in place. The UNSW profile is the strongest source for her description of inclusive design, empathy, product semantics and the criteria of solving real problems, being intuitive and usable, and having high desirability. Her doctoral thesis supplies the door-and-handle example, while the ICED15 paper supplies the bathroom-survey context and sample figure.
The accessible listing and profile do not provide a full transcript. They do not establish that the recording discussed a named smart-home platform, a particular sensor, a specific commercial product or a measured technology outcome. Treating the episode as an endorsement of any such item would go beyond the available evidence.
The companion publication attributes this line to industrial designers Roger Coleman and Maria Bengtsson: “designing for other people is designing for our future selves.” In the context reported there, the idea is a reminder that inclusive design is not a niche concern. However, the quotation should be understood as reported attribution, not as an independently verified statement from the original designers.
The practical takeaway for ageing-in-place design
Start with the life a person wants to continue at home, then investigate the physical, sensory, cognitive and social barriers that could interrupt it. Invite people who experience those barriers to shape the brief, make or discuss possible solutions, and review concepts before decisions become expensive to change. Use technology where it solves a clearly defined problem, but judge it by the same standards as a door, bathroom or piece of hardware: it must be understandable, usable, accessible, compatible with the home and appealing enough to adopt.
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