Troll Hunting
An Excursion in the Hospital
Volunteer Experience Design Work
the LEGO Group + Mary Elizabeths Hospital
01 Project Prompt
Design an Excursion in the Hospital
This volunteer experience design project was ignited when the design team of the new Mary Elizabeths Children’s Hospital reached out the the LEGO Group for help in designing a few “winter garden” spaces. The hospital is newly commissioned by Region Hovedstaden in the Copenhagen Region.
The prompt focused on finding ways to help children and families experience the sense of being away from the hospital for a day.
Scroll towards the end of the presentation to see a rendered video of the space!
02 Research
What is a special Danish Experience?
The team collected responses from dozens of families with children about what they felt a uniquely Danish day trip excursion would be. A unique experience emerged as a potential design theme- finding the giant trolls in Denmark hidden by the local artist Thomas Dambo.
03 User Empathy Maps & User Journey Maps Lead to a Surprising Excursion
Mapping the Users
User personas were explored further to increase empathy and understanding of the children staying at the hospital.
Our team closely followed a particular user persona, Noah, who experiences the surprising joy of an in hospital excursion.
I was able to build an initial rough user journey map and in further team sessions we filled it in with additional interaction opportunities.
The team presented this general user story to the hospital group to tell the story of Noah’s journey through the winter garden.
04 Further Brainstorming
Interaction Opportunities
05 Spatial Concept Designs
Winter Garden
The group strove to make the space playful and natural feeling, to escape the indoors.
The hospital had an agreement with a contractor to set aside construction waste for potential re-use. The team decided to use a hybrid child’s arts and crafts style and exaggerated natural style in the space.
Grass
•Large scale creatures and plants in the space to make it feel magical and inspire awe and inspire play.
•Rotate and Play: turning the grass blades in many directions.
Rubber Earth Mounds
•Play on uneven soft surface, breaks away from the orthogonal and typical nature of the hospital floor
•Cork or playground rubberized surface, soft and cleanable
Ground Floor
Active Play Zone
•High activity zone for children and families
•Varied terrain and climbable areas
•Many hidden elements and QR codes for a scavenger hunt
Troll Figure
•Utilizes scrap lumber from construction – Contractor for the Hospital has a history of supplying the artist with lumber for his art
•Acts as a surprising and fun focal point
•Becomes a familiar companion and can be found in the hospital app
•Tactile, sealed reclaimed wood
Bird House
•Hang our space / play house for children
•Unique perspective and view
•Learn about birds of Denmark, insects, etc.
•Unique view of and engagement with the troll
•Plays with sense of scale to instill awe
Tree Trunk
•Pegs for hanging kids crafts – allows kids to decorate – customize the space with seasonal crafts
•Hidden area for animals
•Tree made of salvaged materials and mimics the look of the salvaged troll and the look of some of the stick and paper kids crafts
Balcony Upper Floor
Quiet Upper Story
•Less active zone for children and families
•Craft or extra take away craft supplies
•Game area, study area, etc.
Tree Canopy
Fabric Canopy
•Simple mesh fabric on flexible plastic tubing
•Can change colors during the season, take down and clean old colors
•Possibly host projections, depending on density of mesh fabric
Open Sky Area
•Smooth finish ceiling that allows for projections
•Project blue sky, or night sky
•Change the weather to match the outdoors via projections and accompanying audio cues in the room
Immersive Experience
Scavenger Hunt
•Hidden doors throughout the lower floor – hide in tree, troll, wall, benches, grass, etc.
•Doors hide extra characters and QR based clues for the app based scavenger hunt.
•Interior surprises can change over time.
Audio Experience
•Audio of animals and weather conditions via smart sensors throughout the wintergarden
Beyond the Wintergarden
•Connections outside –Troll statues outside
•Troll feet hanging out of walls in other areas (stair, other hallways, and wintergardens)
•Continue scavenger hunt in other winter gardens nearby