Chapter four
"IusedtobeafraidthataslongasIwas autistic,I'dnever beabletoliveproperlyasahumanbeing.Thereweresomany thingsIcouldn'tdolikeotherpeople,andhavingtoapologies day in, day out totally drained me of hope" [23]
-Naoki Higashida
The objectives
SinceIstartworkingonthisprojectand manyhaveaskedmewhatIamworking on, so my answer was, "It's about autism, "and they like what ? How come?
A lot of people still unaware of the influence of architecture in our life and ourbehaver,weshapeourbuildingand then it shapes us. Create a space for autistics to provide them with the best experience possible in an effort to heal them and enable them to participate in society., to show the world the true vision of autism. We must first understand the spectrums of autism by examining its instances and characteristics in order to develop an experience for autistic. Mainly there aretwocasesofautismHypoandHyper and the zones between them. The characteristics of each different and required a special environment. Basically, thedesign of autism relied on sevenaspectsbasedonMajidaMostafa research, she called them ASPECTESS. Which are as follow:
Acoustics by minimalize noises and distraction, Spatial sequences by the routine, escape by a private zone for individual, Compartmentation by appreciate function of the spaces then break them down in many pieces, Transitionspacesbysimpleandsmooth navigation paths, Sensory zoning by sensory experience and enhance their sensesandfaintlyensureSafety.People around us, how they treat us, and even how they perceive us
all have an impact on us as individuals. We have reached 2022, and many people still view autism as a disability and feel terrible for those who have it. Even parents of autistic children experience shame of having an autistic member in their family, and they may neglect their kid and feel sorry for themselves, while they may are the luckiest to had him.
Therefore one of the most significant purposes of the project is to raise awareness about autism, its causes, characteristics, and treatment methods, as well as to show the world the real abilities and qualities that autistic individuals can possess. We're not searching for sympathy here, so they may come and enjoy themselves while the abilities of autistic kids also advance. Also to show the parents how tohandleASDsituations,whattheycan do to help children, and how they can participateintheirchildren'sschedules.
First, we must start creating the ideal environment possible for autistic children in order to achieve that, which includes the entire process of teaching and treating them then find and develop their latent potential. So, the question now ,Can autistics be genius? A lot of research's have been shown that Autism As a Disorder of High Intelligence,[24] and other said that that autism is the result of enhanced, but imbalanced, components of intelligence.[24]sotoshowtheparents that they have a gift and they most be thankful and work together to help their child.
The site
Thesiteoftheprojecthaddirectimpact on the design , the program and the spaces that form the project. Also, on the orientation and the form of the project. The area of the whole site is about 60 km and the selected site is about 20 km.
KingAbdullahgardenhasahugeimpact on the project, the students could go there to developed their ability with dealing with public spaces or communication and to connect them with outdoor natural environment, or the visitorsof thegarden could join our project and raise their awareness, so we need a space to adapted that and also to be available for other users of the site from residents, students and others. Other major aspect of the site the sun orientation and wind direction, as autistic are sensitive to bright light and may make them confuses and loss their attention especially during the therapy or education time.
Moreover, the topography of the site also has a role in the program, our site had a slope with percentage of 1.3%, 2.6% in the selected area of the site. Whicharenotdangersforchildrenwith this number.
The User
Creating a program of the project must refers to three aspect, project’s goals, the users and site forces. The scale and personal zone of an autistic person must be considered while determining the right space for them. They say if your child don’t like to hug or touch you,heprobablyhasautism,Asautistic persons are particularly sensitive to personal space and require twice as much personal space as the average persontofeelcomfortableinaspace.If a class room with 30 sq meters area is associated to serve 20 to 30 students then it is serve the half with autism.
An experiment on the personal space requirements of autistic people revealed that the person with autism requires about 2.5 meters of personal zone to feel comfort in a space , and that this distance changes when they interact socially with other people, as it was discovered that this range increases at the beginning of social interaction to reach about 3 meters. After some time has passed during the talk, the three meters will gradually reducetoalmostonemeteranhalf.[25]
Based on this the area of zones and its function changed to give the comfortable to autistic user, especially whenstartinvolvingpublicvisitorinthe project.
The User
In order to fulfill the project's goals, a variety of users are participating in the process to help develop a habitat that will support and encourage this group of community. Autistic user make up the majority of this users and are the focusofourdesignwork.Therearetwo primary groups of autistics, children and adults. Adults are mainly involved to support autistic children, job opportunity,sharetheirskills,andhelp them communicate and find friends.
Autistic children are the target user of the project , and they are three groups, thefirstgroupinvolvechildrenwithage between 6months to 5 years, those children will spent about one to three hours in therapy zone with companion, the percentage of their presence is limited to the zone of diagnosis and therapy, as they do not need to access the school education or other zones.
The second group are children with age between 6 to 18 years, which they will accessthefullexperienceoftheproject starting with the diagnose zone to creativity.
Children of high school age may not access all zones, so they may just come to share skills or communicate. But as we cant find two autistic similar, still their presence also may change based on their level, so we may found a 6 years old autistic with skills better than 10 years old.
The User
The public visitors make up the second category of users; they participate in the project's primary objectives and greatly contribute to its success. The main group of thepublicmainly arethe parents,theparentsofautisticchildren may participate in the program of their child and learn aboutthetruepotential of people with autism, and they should know there is no shame to have child with autism.
Other public visitor may be an interested people on autism, art and otherthings,ortheresidentsofthesite and the users of it, school students and visitors of King Abdullah Gardens, which are located next to the project site.
The presence of public visitors in the project is limited to zones of awareness, sensory experiences, exhibitions, or agricultural and commercial zones.
The times of their presence or use of the project are not specified and depend basically on the visitor and his interests or the project’s working hours and activities.
The project's workers, who include specialist physicians, instructors, management personnel, and any other users who support the project's daily operations, make up the last category of users. This group is present during the whole working time and is present in all project zones.
Autistic child experience
Theinfluenceoftheprojecton autistics will start as they put the first step in it. So the experience will start from outdoor garden – sensory garden, followed by the diagnosis zone, the therapy zone, the education zone, the community zone, and finally the sensory garden, which will begin with nature and finish with it. these zones complete each others and are interconnected to achieve the main goals that made for it which is help autistic to improve their ability for understandingand interaction,express their inside, and discovered the creativity that they may had then show the world that.
Autistic adults are included in the project through the creative zone and the commercial zone in order to achieve social justice and to provide opportunities for all members of society, since the high unemployment rate in the autism community and also contribute to the project's success by allowingthemtoassist autistic children and be a part of the public gathering interface.
Community visitor experience
Increases the awareness of community about autism may will be succussed by showing them the true case of the spectrum. The journey will start from out side where they can see the ability ofautisticpeoplewithfarming,drawing and their art in the sensory garden. moving for the gallery where the creativity of autistic people shown ,the zone where they can communicate with autism people. Therapy zone also provide sessions that tech people
The project also will offer a VR experience for visitor that make them liveasanautistictoshowthemthetrue world of autism and the autistic people angel of the world. The zone of creativity is maybe the one where the generalpublicandautisticpeoplecome together most. For comprehensive benefit, the therapy zone offers a significant consultation area for public and is moveable, allowing it to check towns and neighborhoods and offer any necessary support and guidance.
The zones
Toaccomplishtheproject'sgoals,these zones were chosen carefully. The project's area approximate to 3,000 square meter, 90% of its total size, is dedicatedtochildren'susage,with50% of that space set aside for gathering.
Organization
Autistic people must first be healed, educated, and develop their communication skills before they can access the zones of gathering and creativity. This sequential structure of thezonesallowsforthehealingprocess to be followed. Additionally, this is true for visitors, as we spread knowledge then emotions.
Diagnosis Zone
The diagnostic stage of the therapeutic procedureiscrucial.Whichiswherethe autism spectrum and its severity are established, then each autistic child is given an individual schedule.
In order to reach that , the child is subjected to many examinations, the most essential of which are probably the psychological, social, and abilities tests. And contain Social Diagnosis zone, Psychiatrist zone, Observation Room, ODP for public consulting and services, Diagnosis rooms where the scheduleandprogramforautisticsetto move to the next zone, therapy zone, and this zone other space that spurt its function from offices and services rooms.
Therapy s Zone
Therapy zone come with different spaces too to adapted all the condition that may occurs, and in reason of autistics need different facilities and ways for treating. this zone include Speech therapy office and rooms, Observation room , Autism therapy room, Physiotherapy room, Observation room, Sensory playroom and this zone other space that spurt its function from offices and services rooms. Public visitors are allow to access this zone only the offices for knowledge or awareness about autism.
Occupational therapy zone
Occupational therapy zone complete thetherapyzoneandcomeinstage2of treating and it is specialize to improve the daily skills of autistic children in their home, so it is include spaces to give feel of homely from bedroom, living room , kitchen and common bathrooms, in addition to others supportive facilities from outdoor garden ,administration office and services rooms.
Educational zone
Educational zone has the less area of project, this is because it is not for all children is just for the needed condition, and to teach children with autism the physical experience works more effectively in most of them.
This zone basically include a classrooms, training rooms, group room, private room for individual learningand library and also associated with an outdoor space.
Sensory zone
The sensory zone occupies the largest area of the project, as it is the point where the autistics start to interact with the public visitors, the main two spaces of this zone the VR experience for children in away of healing and improve their skills, the other VR experience associated for public visitor to let them see the point view of autistic people about world. Other spaces are sensory gallery and a dining room.
Creativity zone
In the last zone, the results of the project and the product of design are shown through the large exhibition, in which the talents and abilities of the autistic are displayed in drawing, music and sculpture. Public are highly involved in this zone. This zone include show space, painting room, music space, writing and language rooms, cooking room
Initial spatial diagram
All the zones that make up the project are connected linearly, as we talked about earlier, through a longitudinal corridor that connects them all and links the project with the external nature
Commercial zone
The diagnostic stage of the therapeutic procedureiscrucial.Whichiswherethe autism spectrum and its severity are established, then each autistic child is givenanindividualschedule.Inorderto reach that , the child is subjected to many examinations, the most essential of which are probably the psychological, social, and abilitiestests.
Sensory garden zone
The diagnostic stage of the therapeutic procedureiscrucial.Whichiswherethe autism spectrum and its severity are established, then each autistic child is given an individual schedule. In order to reach that , the child is subjected to many examinations, the most essential of which are probably the psychological, social, and abilities tests.
Sensory garden and commercial zones
The zones of the sensory garden are distributed throughout the project, starting with the senses of sight and smell at the entrance of the project, and the last area of the project constitutes the largest area of the sensory areas, agricultural areas, commercial and drawing walls, which begin at the beginning of the project at the entrance and appear again at the endoftheprojectinthesensorygarden as well.
Figure 149 : Zoning on site and environmental forces.
Zoning on site
To follow the main goals of the project, as to keep the experience smooth and easy the zoning on site follow this method , as it placed with the same orientation line of the site, trying as much as possible to place the spaces in a friendly way on the site. The spaces were arranged with taking intoaccount the environmental factors that would affect the project or the therapeutic processforpeoplewithautism.Thereis a main entrance from the project, which is from the main street of the site, and this street is also shared with KingAbdullahGardens.Thegreenareas of sensory gardens and agricultural facilities have been placed towards the wind, which is west-south, and also to benefit from as much sunlight as possible during the day.
On the other side, educational facilities were placed on the opposite side of direct sunlight to avoid any obstacles that might affect the educational process,beinganautisticpatientwhois negatively affected by direct sunlight and may distracthimduring the lesson.
