Xperience This!

Back in April, several colleagues and I entered a competition by the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Design Trust for Public Space that challenged entrants to envision the future of the Grand Concourse, a boulevard in the Bronx whose grandeur has suffered in recent decades. It was a design competition, so the vast majority of contestants were architects, landscape architects, and city planners. Being experience architects, we were the filly running against the stallions – a long shot to say the least. Two months later, our proposal was selected from over 400 entries from 25 countries as one of seven (7) finalists whose designs are now on display for the fall season at the museum.

Why did our unorthodox entry resonate with the judges? Because we were the only entrants who, instead of immediately diving into a design solution to answer the question, “What should be done to revitalize the Concourse?” considered the most appropriate approach to be the one we would apply to any experience design challenge – ask the audience.

The results of our research are on display at the museum. You can also see facsimiles of some of the deliverables by going to the case study on our website. What I’d like to share here are some of the things we found important when applying basic experience design research principles to this particular challenge. More »