An architecture for everyone. Autism

Guide to the influence of architecture and its physical spaces in autism.

We can understand that we are not all alike and that we are not we all perceive things equally, including being aware that architecture should be for all of us, even if we involuntarily forget it, and We already talked about this in how to design a school for the children's learning.

Projecting the impossible or building almost utopian dreams is synonymous with splendor, medals, trophies, but the reality is that without the observer or the occupant, our work of art becomes only concrete and iron, a meaningless element, without reason to be.

There are thousands of rules for designing buildings where the exercise of architecture is carried out having present the existence of people with various types and degrees of disability (visual, auditory and motor, fundamentally). We then speak of “accessibility”, which is a mainly physical concept: it is about allowing the access for people with disabilities to buildings/spaces, which ultimately enables them to inhabiting them.

However, for people with certain impairments cognitive, sensory, etc. Among which are For people with autism, this assumption about how spaces will be perceived and lived, far from be true: due to their deficits, they must make an effort, sometimes disgraceful, to be able to assimilate and understand the environment that surrounds them.

We believe that in order to understand autism and its different actions, the vision of the present is relevant short documentary “Other voices". (Note: The syndrome of Asperger or Asperger disorder is a set of mental and behavioral problems that is part of the autism spectrum disorders. The Disorder Spectrum is also called ASD).

The action of getting to know is called cognition and when it refers to the physical environment, it is called cognition space. It is here, where the difficulty increases in the autistic people who recognize a disorder and disorientation, have trouble organizing globally and coherent, the different elements that make up the space physical.

It is where architecture professionals should understand and know the basic aspects to minimize. Be it by remember that architecture is for everyone or because currently It is recognized that out of every 150 children, one has some degree of autism. (Some studies claim that they are one in 100)

How can a physical space affect a autistic?

At this point we want to add with actual comment that I coined a parent on a visit to a mall:

Last week we went to a mall. Our oldest daughter, Norah, wanted to see “Zipi y Zape and the Marble Club”. We meet some friends for a drink something, while she, with her family, went to the cinema.

Ares came with us. He accompanies us to everywhere, despite the difficulties it creates for us in open spaces, because we believe that going out and participating in daily activities, it will be better integrated into the normality.

The mall we went to has the floor shiny, like varnished, and stripes of different colors. Ares have any perception difficulties that prevents, for example, approaching the steps well or interpreting reliefs and changes in soil texture. Sometimes a change of color on the pavement, interprets it as an obstacle, that surpasses four legs, although, in reality, the slightest change in height.

Ares slept into the center commercial. Waking up and seeing that colored floor scared, began to cry and wanted to leave. when she gets scared it grabs you tightly and the face is reduced to two huge eyes wide open. She only calmed down when she was in the street, far from that smooth colored floor, which must have been for she an insurmountable slide of ups and downs with each change of tonality.

Norah liked “Zipi y Zape”. (From the blog enelmargenn.wordpress.com Some parents explain the real stories and evolution of your girl with ASD)

General guidelines for a coherent architecture before autism.

In this case we leave you a presentation that we believe is of relevance to understand the general lines in a coherent architecture before the TEA.

To go deeper into the topic of autism in architecture we added a series of manuals where further specify the lines to follow in the architecture:

• Autism and architecture: strategies for designing spaces educational in PDF. That we can consult from HERE
• Spatial perception and ASD (Introduction to architectural spaces)
• Housing Guidelines: Design for Adults with autism spectrum disorders (English – Very good manual. Especially at the end with excellent information in regarding the design of spaces)
• Architecture and Disability (Thesis): Spotlight comprehensive for autistic children (Spanish – Very good)
• Building homes that work for the autistic. (English)

A necessary book to understand space interior architecture in the face of autism:

“The sensory systems of children with autism they usually present hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity, and the design of interiors is an instrument of organization and systematization that helps define when to control or encourage them, with the in order to provoke an improvement in the behavior of these little ones of the home. Through the study of the components of space and from the behavioral profile of the user it has been concluded that, insofar as one manages factors such as the lighting, the forms, the textures, furniture, acoustics, air conditioning and the different colors, it will achieve a better development of the child who presents this condition.”

Karenny Güílamo and Carmen Ariza authors of “Autism: Special Spaces. Residential Design Manual» the book can be viewed from HERE on Amazon.