Guidelines for Designing Recreational Vehicles Functionally and Interior for Selected Culture

Abstract

The thesis is about creating a guideline to help design recreational vehicles for one specific culture or subculture. It covers a brief history of the birth and development of recreational vehicles, including the predecessor of recreational vehicles, the development of RV camping, significant contributors, and global influence. Moreover, there is discussion about the necessity of culturally oriented design and the cultural influence within the recreational vehicle industry. Recreational vehicle development has primarily occurred in North American and Western regions, but the trend of RV camping is rising outside of these areas. Therefore, a design tool is created to assist recreational vehicle designers in understanding a culture objectively and extracting useful cultural elements that can benefit the design process. Following the tool from three perspectives, cultural, regulatory, and market, designers could have a clear overview of the recreational vehicle industry and market in selected cultures. In order to make the design guideline more reliable, a case study on designing a recreational vehicle considering Japanese cultural influence is demonstrated. Based on the results of the case study, feedback is provided for reference on the effectiveness of the design guideline.