Gallaudet plans new city section to facilitate communication
The Washington, DC university for people with hearing impairments is planning a universally designed architectural vision called "deaf space" that focuses on the visual and tactile experience of being in a community.
" 'It's a way of designing buildings that support and express deaf cognitive and social sensibilities,' Bauman [the architect of the project] said. "It means lots of spaces that encourage people to come together as a community and be free of barriers to visual communication." The university has tested the aesthetic on campus with the construction of a $32 million language and communication center, which features a glass elevator and rooms spacious enough to allow students to sit in large circles and converse. The aesthetic also could mean avoiding wall patterns that are distracting or colors that blend too easily with skin tones and make reading sign language more difficult. For the Sixth Street project, it will probably mean a preference for ramped walkways, as opposed to stairs, which can be difficult to navigate while conversing in sign language. 'You have to stop and look at the steps, and it interrupts the conversation,' Bauman said."
Click on http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303708.html to read more about their fascinating plans!