Sensory spaces: sensory learning – educating future designers to design autism schools.

What is it about?

This paper presents a case study of an autism defined experimental teaching-led design project, within a first-year university Interior Architecture course, on which the author is a tutor. It draws on the author’s extensive working knowledge of autism issues, incorporating mediation between SEN schools and design students, and employing research informed teaching. The project involves a new local free school for autism, at a temporary site.

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Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Universities and design schools have a responsibility to ensure that the education of future designers enables design for special populations, in this case specifically children with autism. The experiment is designed to challenge students, emphasising the importance of understanding how primary research, accessed directly from the end users, informs progressive design thinking. It attempts to influence their design work in subsequent years at university and in practice, and facilitate bridging the gap between academic research and real-life application. This paper seeks to identify how an autism defined project, focused on student-centered learning and encompassing choosing sessions with children with ASD, can be taught in the first year of undergraduate study.

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