architecture
The Living and Learning Residence Hall (LLRH6) due to be completed in the fall of 2012. It’s the first new university building that incorporates the Deafspace principles in the construction of student housing
The CoLab Space offers a flexible studio that students can shape according to their needs: walls can be adjusted to the space students require to sign comfortably, and fold-up doors facing an outdoor space can be opened to let activities spill out into the open area
Acoustics Surprisingly, acoustics still plays a major part of the deaf individual’s experience. The deaf experience many different kinds and degrees of hearing loss, some also use hearing aids that can respond unpleasantly to reverberation from hard building surfaces. When designing environments, care should be taken to reduce reverberation and other background noise.
Inclusive buildings These five major tenets are interwoven when designing an inclusive building. At the Sorensen building, an 8000-square meter space designed by the SmithGroup architecture firm, long open sightlines are clearly visible. Ample windows widen one’s sensory reach, and gently curving
corners prevent people from inadvertently bumping into one another. Instead of rows upon rows of chairs, classrooms are arranged in horseshoe or circular formations, so that students have a clear line of sight to everyone. The university’s new Living and Learning Residence Hall (LLRH6) uses the same principles. The $16-million residence hall will house 175 students and occupy 5570 square meters across five stories. At CoLab, a flexible studio space within the residence hall, students are able to shape the space to their particular needs by moving the walls around. The Terrace Lounge ingeniously incorporates a naturally sloped site, which turns it into a social space that can
Images on this page courtesy of LTL Architects and Quinn Evans Architects
In the main reception area, the soft colors provide ample contrast between the signer and the wall behind, while not straining the eyes. A soft diffused light permeates throughout the space, further preventing eye strain
The terrace lounge is a building's main social space, flexible for small group study areas or as a single room with good sight lines for large gatherings or lectures
accommodate large groups of students who all need line of sight to the “stage” area. The lounge is also subtly broken down into terraces where students can gather in smaller groups. Not only does the building aim to be inclusive, it is also designed to be sustainable. The LLRH6 is targeting LEED® Silver Certification and makes use of a geothermal heating and cooling system. The building incorporates water-saving and high efficiency fixtures, recycled and regional content and materials, and the use of mechanical (HVAC), electric, and plumbing systems installed with a focus on efficiency and controllability. Guidelines like these clarify a different way of being in the world. Sirvage also notes that the guidelines
promote a better way of reaching out to others, whether deaf or hearing. “Contemporary design promotes social isolation among individuals and communities despite the advantages of technology. This is tearing our social fabric and erodes basic human dignity because many people stare at a computer screen just to make a connection with other human beings,” says Sirvage. “The way I see it, DeafSpace offers some strategies to address these issues in very meaningful way. DeafSpace is not really about accommodating to the needs of deaf people but, rather, it is about what we can learn from them, as a visual-tactile orientated group of people, about what it means to design a good social space.”