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A Pile of Methods

Kowloon Park Fitness Trail

As part of PolyU’s “Operation SoInno,” this project reimagines Kowloon Park Fitness Trail to foster intergenerational play by enhancing public well-being. The existing trail lacked visual clarity and appeal, limiting its accessibility and enjoyment. Our team developed a refreshed design strategy that fosters inclusiveness, focusing on how movement shape everyday social interaction. The result is a active that playful environment is developed that supports users of all ages and strengthens community interaction.

Role
 Visual Communication System Designer
 Participatory Design Facilitator
 Visualisation & Representation

Key tasks
 Participatory workshop facilitation and synthesis
 Visual communication and graphic system design
 Spatial zoning and movement strategy development
 Conceptual renders support and spatial visualisation

Collaborators
 Architecture Commons
 Hong Kong Polytechnic University
 Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation

Engagement Workshop

Participatory workshops were conducted to explore how people in different ages and physical abilities engage with movement of play within public space. The workshops focused on co-creation with target user groups to unfold embodied experience. These social behaviours that are often overlooked in conventional fitness design. Here, methods in the workshop included role play, post-it mapping, and walking interviews, gathering the findings in various ways.

Key findings from the workshops included:
 Older users preferred lateral movement and frequent resting points over high-intensity equipment
 Children were more responsive to colour, patterns, and non-instructional visual cues
 Shared surfaces and overlapping zones encouraged spontaneous intergenerational interaction

These insights directly informed the spatial and visual layout in accessibility strategy of the redesigned trail.

Translating lived experience into design insights

Mapping movement preferences across professional groups

Exploring bodily comfort and pace through participatory activities

Role-play exercises revealing everyday movement behaviour

Day 1 workshop exploring the relationship between social participation and physical abilities

Day 2 workshop exploring the relationship between social participation and physical abilities

Design Strategy

The design introduces a visual communication system that guides movement without enforcing fixed routes or prescribed behaviours.

Key strategies include:
 Thin-line graphics that align with natural movement patterns and user behaviour
 A clean yet vibrant colour palette that differentiates zones while maintaining continuity
 Subtle visual cues that invite informal play, rest, and shared experience

Apart from functioning as instructional signage, the system supports intuitive navigation and open-ended use. The fitness trail is transformed into a flexible public system that encourages exploration at one’s own pace and fosters everyday social connection across different generations.

The trail is organised into multiple zones that correspond to different movement intensities. Instead of segregating users by age or ability, zones are designed to overlap spatially and visually, allowing different bodies to coexist within the same continuous system.

Colour and typo system reinforcing spatial hierarchy and intuitive navigation.

Graphic & Icon System

A graphic and iconographic system was developed to translate physical activities, and accessibility information into intuitive visual cues. Icons and directional graphics function as a non-verbal communication layer, supporting users with different language backgrounds and physical abilities.

The system prioritises clarity without prescription, allowing users to interpret and engage with the space according to their own comfort level and intention.

Iconography supporting non-verbal and cross-generational communication

Surface graphics functioning as spatial guidance rather than instruction

Accessibility & Inclusiveness

The trail is designed to accommodate varying mobility levels without separating users into designated areas. Through continuous ramps and non-hierarchical visual cues, different bodies movement rhythms coexist within the same spatial environment.

Inclusivity is achieved through everyday use rather than specialised infrastructure, reinforcing accessibility as a collective and shared experience.

Inclusive spatial system accommodating different bodies movement rhythms.

Spatial organisation illustrating movement loops with direction.

A shared pile. A held story. A shifting system. A lived corner.

A Pile of Work

tracy.apowork@gmail.com
+852 6310 9922 HK