Description:

Traverse proposes rest stops accommodating well-being and disability awareness from Waterloo Station (Knights Road) to the planned pedestrian bridge across Te Awa Kairangi
(Hutt River). The project explores providing for the infrastructural needs of people living with disabilities, and breaking up a journey into manageable and visually appealing pieces.

The design works within an Aspirational Now scenario, speculating a route informed by Universal Streets theory. This is a street reconfiguration theory focussing on pedestrians and micro-transport, and targeted to be accessible for people living with disabilities. This includes but is not limited to green infrastructure, night lighting, and textural clues at crossings and pedestrian ramps.

Traverse provides sheltered rest stops spaced 50 metres apart–an ideal walking distance for senior pedestrians. Amenities, like public bathrooms, water fountains, charging stations, and food trucks, are offered for user convenience and provide social opportunities and visibility when
walking at night. The suburban built environment inspires the materials, expressing the character of the area and familiarity of ‘home’.

To be accessible to disability in multiple forms, from physical to neurodivergent to invisible, every shelter contains three bespoke designs:
- A Crutches Notch: built into tabletops to hold canes and crutches, keeping them within reach and out of tripping danger;
- A Wayfinder: a map and signage in Te Reo, English, and Braille with additional audio buttons. It details location and travel time to reach Waterloo Station and the pedestrian bridge, reducing travel anxiety and orienting the traveller;
- A Fidget Bench: built for sitting and laying, it has a divider of wire and bead strings for idly fidgeting to help calm and reorient.

Informed by disability studies and Hutt City Council whānau framework, Traverse seeks to uplift the mana of users and make visible the diversity of disability and its vital inclusion in placemaking.