Today marks the 5th annual World Autism Awareness Day
In recognition I have decided to launch my first blog accordingly.
I have created this blog as an extension of my Masters research to act as an interactive resource. The goal of this blog is to provide a platform where people can post their opinion and provide feedback on topics of Autism and Architecture.
Here is a brief summary of my Research Topic,
"Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex condition that affects neurological brain development. There are multiple characterizations of the disorder, which makes it difficult to define in a single term. It primarily influences social interaction, verbal communication, and causes repetitive behavioral patterns.
Autism is connected to early brain development in infants and toddlers that is typically diagnosed between the ages of 2-4. It affects all ethnicity's but it is most prevalent amongst the male sex, approximately 1 in every 110 infants in the United States is autistic (Center for Disease Control). These children have extremely specialized needs in that each case of autism is unique. Most children have distinctive abilities and are extremely proficient in academics, visualization, and music. However many of them are unable to live independently and approximately 25% of people with ASD are non-verbal but do have the ability to communicate through other means (Autism Speaks).
The focus of this directed design research is to use digital technology coupled with environmental psychology to develop an ASD Children’s Clinic designed to assist in sensory integration to positively affect the autistic user and create a model of the beneficial possibilities of architectural intervention in the field of Autism.
Strategic and in-depth research into the various types of autism as well as treatments, will help facilitate a set of parameters which will help guide the design principles to create a beneficial architecture for these children of highly specialized needs. My goal is to provide an environment that could act as positive catalyst in the process of treating autism for both the autistic user and the physicians that assist in the everyday."
This is a year long research assignment that will conclude in an architectural prototype of an ASD children's clinic. I am not an expert on the topic of Autism however I am actively researching and quickly becoming more familiar. Approaching this topic from the view of an outsider makes it extremely challenging. Visiting clinics and interacting with autistic children will provide primary sources of information that will offer insight that I could not otherwise obtain with traditional research methods.
My goal is to understand the autistic user in relation to the environment so that I can adapt sensory aspects of the built environment accordingly. My vision is to create a clinic that facilitates multiple aspects of autism, so that individuals can be treated as individuals and in turn feel a belonging to a greater collective.
