This thesis will focus on the design of a place of learning for the visually impaired. Its theoretical underpinnings will be developed through explorations of how the senses might encourage learning among visually impaired individuals, by means of interactions with built form. In other words, can a built object be an instrument of teaching for the visually impaired?
The thesis argues that based on the scale and the large spaces built objects occupy wherever they are located, most architectural representations to the general public are overwhelmingly designed as a visual art, something that is experienced mostly through the eyes. Drawing from Peter Eisenman’s essay, “The End of the Clasical, the End of the Beginning, the End of the End,” (1984), this thesis argues that the tradition of reducing buildings to objects that can be experienced primarily through the sense of sight dates back to the Renaissance era. However, architecture can be thought of and designed as an experiential passage that can excite all the five senses of its users. The exploration of how the five senses—smell, taste, touch, hearing, as well as sight—can be stimulated when using a building holds promise in the education of blind students. The study will be grounded in the hypothesis that although the sense of sight directs our visual understanding of the environment, movement and tactility can aid visually handicapped students to orient themselves in movement and in space.
Lastly, there will be an interpretation of the lessons learned from the theoretical explorations through the design of a Culinary Center for the blind at Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Cincinnati, Ohio.