Designing for the Deaf

"A real metamorphosis is necessary to develop new characteristics in the practice of architecture and new behaviour patterns in its authors: therefore all barriers between builders and users must be abolished, so that building and using become two different parts of the same planning process. Therefore the intrinsic aggressiveness of architecture and the forced passivity of the user must dissolve in a condition of creative and decisional equivalence where each - with a different specific impact - is the architect, and every architectural event - regardless of who conceives it and carries it out - is considered architecture."

Giancarlo De Carlo (p.13) 

This reading, and specifically passage, reminded me of a unique experience I had in the summer of 2015. That summer I had the opportunity to work for the firm Studio Twenty Seven Architecture, located two blocks North of the White House in Washington, DC. During my time there, I attended several project meetings for renovations that were being done at Gallaudet University, the Nation's oldest school for the deaf. Until now I did not realize the true significance of those meetings. I have told family and friends about this project for years, but have not truly validated it as a significant first hand observation within the AEC industry until now.

As an intern I would carry my boss' bag of materials and samples into the meeting and quickly find a seat in a nearby corner of the room. I then proceeded to take meeting notes of the, sometimes aggressive, exchanges that occurred over two hours between everyone involved in the construction phase of the renovations. This included the owners and developers. In this unique case, the owners were deaf university administrators.

The meeting took place at a round table, with translators sitting on opposite sides of the table. When a heated debate would break out between the developer and member of the construction team, the translator would quickly pat his/her head in order to inform everyone that the conversation was too fast and unable to be successfully communicated to the client. This acted as a constant reminder for the room of the project's main objectives and goals. Egos were repeatedly put aside, forcing grown men to take a deep breath and seek to understand on behalf of clarity in communication for the client.

In this scenario, all of the bolded text in De Carlo's quote above came alive. New solutions were reached, ideas considered and perspectives developed as a result of the common desire to speak and be heard clearly. Furthermore, I sat in pride as my boss proposed unique design solutions for university spaces that would serve deaf students. Even in the construction phase, the clients expressed ideas that were later prototyped at the office (Studio Twenty Seven). These prototypes were loved by all members of the project and became a unique design solution that were conceived and developed by the university, architecture and construction teams.

In this experience I truly witnessed barriers crumble between builders and users.