Cruise ship cabin as home for elderly – the possibilities in cruise ship living

This thesis focuses on designing a cruise ship cabin home for elderly. In the design process of this cabin concept, I’ve concentrated on the accessibility and safety of the cabin and making it feel like home. The concept offers an alternative for the future assisted living home through the design of the cabin interior and the solutions made through fixed furniture and technology. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on accessible design and Design for All principles, the requirements of marine environment and designing a home for elderly. I also study the possibility of having an assisted living facility on a cruise ship. During the process, I visited cruise ships Silja Symphony and Viking Grace to see existing cabins for people with disabilities, and arranged a co-creation session with The Threshold Association and Turun Vanhusneuvosto. In addition, I developed the theoretical part based on previous literature and discussions with designers from Kudos Dsign Oy.
I present a concept design of a cabin module that would be a part of a bigger concept. I will go through the basic actions and features of the design, discuss how the fixed furniture supports the user, and present the materials and the colour palette on a concept level. I visualise how the cabin home could look like and what elements should be integrated in it, so that the cabin meets its user’s needs. I also present an option for the user to decide the colour scheme of their home: I make this more concrete through presenting another colour scheme alongside the first one. Finally, I evaluate my finished work and reflect how it could be developed further.
Final Thesis. Cruise ship cabin as home for elderly – the possibilities in cruise ship living. Mia Makkonen. 2017. Interior Architecture.

The permanent address of the publication: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201705046415

Final Thesis. Cruise ship cabin as home for elderly – the possibilities in cruise ship living. Interior Architecture. 2017.

Final Thesis. Cruise ship cabin as home for elderly – the possibilities in cruise ship living. Interior Architecture. 2017.

Final Thesis. Cruise ship cabin as home for elderly – the possibilities in cruise ship living. Interior Architecture. 2017.