In China’s hospice services, the focus is often on the patient, and the care of the family is neglected because of the system’s inadequacy. However, when families face the loss of their loved ones, the emergence of grief is unavoidable. Grieving itself is a normal phenomenon, but due to the untimely intervention, some people’s normal grief eventually turns into complicated grief, which negatively impacts their physical and mental health. Therefore, patients’ families also need to be supported during their grieving process. However, each person’s grief response is different, which can be influenced by various factors such as culture, age and gender. This project aims to support the psychological needs of Chinese teenagers facing the loss of their loved ones.

Adolescents are at a more sensitive stage. They are beginning to form their values and already can understand what death is, but at the same time are not as mature as adults. At the same time, due to the Chinese culture -- seldom emphasising personal feelings expression and even having a habit of hiding negative emotions -- grieved teenagers are often refuse to express their needs and therefore do not receive timely psychological support.

Therefore, with the guidance of the 13 fundamental needs proposed by Pieter Desmet and Steven Fokkinga, this project explores the psychological needs that emerged during the teenagers’ grieving. Also, through interviews, participatory observation, and generative sessions, multiple stakeholders were understood and analysed to identify better roles and scenarios for support.

Finally, based on the research results, a toolkit called ‘Book of Answers’ was developed. This toolkit aims to be used by classmates to support teenagers’ recognition and community psychological needs who have lost their parents. With the help of the toolkit, the classmates will learn knowledge about bereavement and kindness expressions and then work as a group to create a ‘book of answers’ formed by self-made comfort cards. This book will be delivered

to the bereaved teenager eventually, conveying classmates’ goodwill at the same time. It is worth noting that although the classmates were the main users of the toolkit, teachers and bereaved teenagers’ parents were also involved in the final concept, working as a system.
Therefore, in the final evaluation, not only ordinary middle school students, but also teachers in school and a person who experienced parental loss evaluated the final design, all of whom commented on the concept positively. It could be said that this final solution supports the psychological needs of the bereaved teenagers, also provides education for the general students, and the proposed toolkit opens up new possibilities for psychological education in schools.

In this thesis, a luminaire is developed for the public space. The main purpose of this luminaire is to positively influence the state of mind of bystanders and improve the residential quality of the city centre. It does this by creating distinct atmospheres with adaptive light features, based on the use of public space. To determine all the preconditions of such a design, an extensive analysis was carried out on all facets that are related to light. This covers both the physics concerning light and the (psychological) perception of that light. After an analysis of the current role of light in the public space, the interests of all stakeholders have been framed. Based on this, a design vision has been drawn up; ‘‘DEVELOP A PROGRAMMABLE LUMINAIRE WHICH HAS THE MAIN FUNCTION OF POSITIVELY INFLUENCING THE STATE OF MIND OF BYSTANDERS BY USING ITS ADAPTIVE LIGHT PROPERTIES TO CREATE DESIRED ATMOSPHERES’,’ Within this vision, after several brainstorms, four concepts have been developed. The concept with the most viability has been used as the basis. The “iterative design” method has been applied within the thesis, with multiple models/prototypes being made; at first simple models (spuugmodellen), later more detailed scale models. Hereby, making prototypes has always been seen as a means, not as a goal. Physical models have been used to explore design areas and to validate design choices. Because designing with light context is very important, a case study has been developed within this thesis; the centre of Tilburg. By dividing the city centre of Tilburg into three areas “residential area, shopping area and catering area”, light scripts have been developed that respond to the (subconscious) needs of residents and visitors of city districts with their unique specific functions. These light scripts are based on the adaptive (programmable) light properties of the developed luminaire. A hierarchical system has been developed for this that can determine light properties based on several external factors. These light properties are converted to a numerical system, which is used as input for programming the luminaire. The impact of the different light properties on the atmospheric perception of the light was determined in a test setup, for which a scale model of the final design was used. In this study, the prototype also functions as a proof of concept. Based on the results of the research, a conceptual model has been drawn up, in which the light properties of the luminaire can be determined on the basis of the desired atmosphere. The thesis concludes with a feedback on the established preconditions, whereby a proposal is made for future research.