Precedent Studies

Northern School for Autism-Reservoir Campus

Architects: Paul Hede - Director Hede Architects Pty Ltd

Year: 2019

Address: 8 Shapiro Court Reservoir, Victoria 3073 Australia

Area: 24000 sqm

The campus is a brand new purpose-built school in Australia, completed in 2013, offering a national facility designed as a professional school in line with international best practice in autism education. The campus accommodates 200 early and middle school students in 25 classrooms. The campus is designed to serve children with autism in the Early Years (5-8 years) and Middle Years (9-12 years). The goal is to enable students to develop their communication and interpersonal skills, as well as to help students learn to understand and self-regulate their emotions and behaviors.

The building supports the children in self-regulating and managing their behavior. Each classroom is complemented by a quiet workroom, a secluded outdoor courtyard, a kitchenette and spacious storage rooms. In keeping with the autistic children's preference for daylight, all classrooms are welllit and naturally bright, enabling minimal use of fluorescent lighting. In addition, the use of interior colors throughout the school is decorated in plain, natural tones to meet the needs of color-sensitive children.

Learn and Take:

Space arrangement: The space is divided into small areas with separate quiet spaces, exits and storage rooms for each space. It is also necessary to consider the visibility of the administrative space and the children's activity area, and to design the space in such a way that the teacher can always take care of the students. Finally, all the classrooms are arranged in the side with sufficient natural light and near the greenery as much as possible.

Interior elements: Use soft and organic furniture and interior decoration, avoiding any irritating and dangerous shapes such as sharp corners. And use warm and soft basic colors to help students ease the stress of their new environment. In addition, use more natural materials like wood and stone for furniture and flooring, etc.

Mossbrook School

Architects: Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Year: 2003

Location: Sheffield,UK

Area: 200 sqm

The classroom is situated on a green belt, making full use of its surroundings as an educational resource in a playful way. Visual panels on the walls and floor allow children to see the natural world up close and personal. The innovative use of technology brings aspects of nature and science from the outside into the classroom through digital and analog displays.

Environment as learning tool

The building forms a natural gateway to a nature conservation area. Indeed the building is intended to encourage wildlife to inhabit places within it. There is a window under the building and the hope is to encourage a badger sett to live there.

The teaching space has framed views of the meadow, picture windows and a balcony that addresses the pond. The clerestory lets in a different type of light from the north and gives a view of the sky.

Additionally there are plasma screens, which often show an enhanced view of things. Cameras are mounted on and around the building and the pond, bringing an enhanced view of the world into the classroom.

The Center of Autism

Architects: Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Year: 2003

Location: Philadelphia,US

Area: 200 sqm

The classroom is situated on a green belt, making full use of its surroundings as an educational resource in a playful way. Visual panels on the walls and floor allow children to see the natural world up close and personal. The innovative use of technology brings aspects of nature and science from the outside into the classroom through digital and analog displays.

Environment as learning tool

The building forms a natural gateway to a nature conservation area. Indeed the building is intended to encourage wildlife to inhabit places within it. There is a window under the building and the hope is to encourage a badger sett to live there.

The teaching space has framed views of the meadow, picture windows and a balcony that addresses the pond. The clerestory lets in a different type of light from the north and gives a view of the sky.

Additionally there are plasma screens, which often show an enhanced view of things. Cameras are mounted on and around the building and the pond, bringing an enhanced view of the world into the classroom.

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Mostafa, M. (2008). An Architecture for Autism: Concepts of Design Intervention for the Autistic User. International Journal of Architectural Research-IJAR 2, 2(1).

Mostafa, M. (2014). ARCHITECTURE FOR AUTISM: Autism ASPECTSSTM in School Design. International Journal of Architectural Research: ArchNetIJAR, 8(1), p.143.

Mostafa, M. (2020). Chapter 23 - Architecture for autism: Built environment performance in accordance to the autism ASPECTSS design index. [online] ScienceDirect. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/B978012818466000023X.

Salmons, J. (2011). Designing and Conducting Research With Online Interviews. [online] Available at: https://www.betterevaluation.org/sites/ default/files/43888_1.pdf.

Woolrych, R., Sixsmith, J., Duvvuru, J., Portella, A., Fang, M.L., Menezes, D., Henderson, J., Fisher, J. and Lawthom, R., 2022. Cross-National Perspectives on Aging and Place: Implications for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. The Gerontologist, 62(1), pp.119-129.