Human-Centered Design Lab, School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi, Thailand
– Visited March, 2009

Human-Centered Design Lab at King Mongkut's University of Technology is currently the only laboratory we have identified in Thailand that covers usability. Sakol Teeravarunyou is the director of the laboratory. Dr. Teeravarunyou has a background in industrial design including a Ph.D. from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The lab was founded two years ago under the direction of the Dean of the school of architecture, who saw the lab as an important resource in supporting a new master’s degree in design. The lab has also proved to be a useful resource for local industry.

A unique aspect of the design of this lab is its size. It has two rooms where prototypes can be constructed, two test rooms and a control room. One test room is for small products and software and the other is a very large, configurable space with a raised floor for running cables and a ceiling two stories high. An example of the unique testing possibilities of the large room was the testing of fire escape equipment. Test subjects had to put on the equipment and escape a simulated building fire, navigating through corridors constructed using partitions (complete with smoke and loud alarms). The test revealed some potentially fatal flaws in the design of the equipment.

In the two rooms for constructing prototypes there is a rapid prototyping machine for creating physical 3D prototypes, a laser cutting machine, and electronic kits for students to create operational technology prototypes. Overall the lab provides an excellent resource for engineering and design students to construct and test a wide variety of prototypes and products. The large room also provides for ergonomic studies of different room layouts with a ceiling mounted camera providing a bird's eye view.

Large test room that can be configured to test the usability of room designs (in this case a library work station).

The central control room covers multiple video sources in the two test rooms

A workshop is attached to the lab where students can construct working prototypes of new designs that they can put to the test.