Due to rapid growth in the area of special needs and the uniqueness of this project, Metro Deaf school reached out to Dickinson + Partners to team up with local architect on the project designs utilizing our expertise in deaf education facilities.
During the design stage, John Dickinson of Dickinson + Partners designed a series of axes and pedestrian ways to give the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing users a clear visual view from the front-rear entries to the classrooms. The corridors are also designed to be wider than standard ones to allow uncramped sign language conversations. All the communication, visual and life safety systems are also designed to allow deaf/HH users to “capture” the warning in matter of seconds.
Each classroom includes notification lights and monitors that allow the school to send important alerts to students and staff members by using different colored lights that correspond with different drills (fire, tornado, active shooter) and direct their attention to the televisions providing additional information.
The team worked with the City of Saint Paul to get a code variance on lighting controls, and eliminated occupancy sensors from the project due to the high-level frequency that effects cochlear implants.
Throughout the building, the lighting levels and placements were very specific to accommodate the students and staff.
