REFLECTION

When imagining the mountain of tomorrow, it is impossible to ignore the user’s angle. Cobuilt, innovative, and shared: The mountain of tomorrow will take these needs into account when developing future spaces. Tourist flows, parking lots and spaces, building renovations, ski lifts, architecture, etc. all fall into this strategy called design thinking or innovation through use.

Before starting to thinking about how design thinking can be used in the mountains, let’s define it first. Design thinking is “an approach that aims to generate innovation by letting the user guide the process,” explains Guillaume Imbert, PhD in innovation and co-founder of the design and innovation agency KIDS in Cran-Gevrier. The method gained popularity in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s before making inroads in the 1980s and then becoming more widely used by companies and more recently by communities. “It’s a common-sense method borrowed from designers, which we generalise to areas as varied as product development, services, digital tools, and business models,” continues Guillaume Imbert. In concrete terms, innovation is cobuilt by involving the user from the outset of the process, instead of using marketing and communication to convince them that the solutions created without them are the right ones for them. Logical, and yet. Innovating through use therefore offers the opportunity to rethink certain models by creating a confrontation early on. In the design thinking approach, the user is involved from the project discovery phase, where they are consulted to express issues. After a period of internal interpretation and ideation, we return to the field to experiment and then test the selected solutions through modeling or prototyping. “The idea is to confront a wide variety of points of view by consulting all types of users in contact with the innovation, whether they are tourists or residents, ski areas, town halls, tourist offices, farmers, etc. By going very quickly into the field, design thinking allows us to ‘make mistakes’ early on, in order to to quickly draw up the innovation that will concentrate all expectations,” adds Guillaume Imbert.

1. Human-centric 2. Multidisciplinarity & collaborative 3. Modeling, prototyping, and testing 4. Flexibility of the process: taking a step back to better move forward 5. Providing user experiences and ensuring user empathy

Design thinking, a tool to imagine the mountain of tomorrow Still not very widespread in the mountains, user-centric innovation is generating curiosity and some are even starting the process. What tourists expect, how condo owners optimize rentals, how mobility can be reimagined through parking, how to build energy-efficient buildings, and how to reconcile landscape development and preservation—are all subjects where design thinking can play a role in imagining the mountain of tomorrow. “Design thinking clearly has a role to play in ensuring a smooth transition in high-altitude areas. This transition will necessarily involve cobuilding and innovation that takes new user needs into account to rapidly test solutions that meet the challenges of our climate. Even if some of the technologies are not yet mature, there are already inexpensive building blocks that can be put in place to initiate change. In any case, we have nothing to lose in rethinking our models by relying on the skills of players who are already well-versed in confronting the reality on the ground,” concludes Guillaume Imbert of KIDS agency.

RENOVACIME: A sustainable, local, and durable approach to renovating mountain residences

Renovacime is an innovative collaborative project— conducted between 2017 and 2021 by the Pôle d’Excellence Bois (BEP) and two joint ventures with architects, designers, economists, builders—supported by the FCBA (Forêt Cellulose Bois-construction Ameublement). The Objective: Take up the challenge of a global, structured, innovative, and competitive rehabilitation of mountain real estate, in order to:

• Prevent empty beds • Rethink shared spaces • Adapt living spaces to new uses • Address the relationship between outside and inside, taking into account new uses and energy performance

The design thinking method: Create a collective dynamic around PEB and the joint venture companies to carry out studies on uses, meet users, develop innovative concepts, and then produce demonstrative prototypes of the sector’s expertise in rehabilitating tourist accommodations in the mountains.

What are the results? Prototyping of a 3D virtual visit of a renovated residence: Using an augmented reality headset, elected officials and co-owners can see redesigned spaces (shared spaces and apartments) and view the solutions proposed to adapt residential accommodation to the new 4-season tourism in the resort.

Prospects: Based on the 3D visit, the project is promoted to property owners and raises awareness in the community about innovative and sustainable solutions to rehabilitate tourist properties using local wood. “Innovation through use has allowed us to bring together very different points of view right from the start. By using personae types, we were able to identify a wide range of user problems and imagine differentiating solutions, such as integrating shared laundry rooms on each floor of the residence. At the Pôle Excellence Bois, we are convinced of the benefits of design thinking. We are also developing other projects based on innovation through use. For companies, it is essential to understand users” says Emeline Mauduit, project manager at Pôle Excellence Bois.

SAYS EMELINE MAUDUIT, PROJECT MANAGER AT PÔLE EXCELLENCE BOIS.