Creating a sensory rich environment is essential to enhancing the independence and comfort of people who are blind or visually impaired. Dickinson + Partners accomplishes this goal by bringing creativity to the design of barrier free building environments while enhancing way finding elements through signage, tactile clues, and technology.
How can we design a building to be a teaching tool?
Throughout the design process, Dickinson + Partners keeps a keen focus on special acoustics, lighting and textures to enhance the children’s understanding of the world.
- When using a cane to travel, distinct and varied materials for walking paths, allow students to detect change of direction and crossing points to increase their independence.
- Designing a rich campus-wide wayfinding system helps students learn to discern changes in spatial composition through shapes, patterns and strategic color combinations. Contrast of interior colors creates visual boundaries such as dark and contrasting flooring surfaces.