Archinect - News

Blind architect kicks off new FSU Master Lecture Series

2020-01-13T14:24:00-05:00

To kick off the inaugural Master Lecture Series put on by the Florida State University College of Fine Arts in collaboration with Florida A&M University School of Architecture and Engineering and the Tallahassee chapter of the AIA, Chris Downey will be speaking.

Downey is a San Francisco-based architect who lost his eyesight after undergoing brain surgery to remove a benign tumor that was pressing against his optic nerve back in 2008. The architect will speak on how the loss of sight gave hum a unique perspective on how people with disabilities experience the built environment, FSU writes.

Since losing his sight, Downey has been working on architectural projects for the visually impaired, combining 20 years of experience and using it as a force to triumph over this unfortunate event in his life. "When faces with a personal tragedy, rather than giving up on himself and his work, he chose to reinvent how architecture is done and experienced," said Rhonda Hammond, president of the AIA...

There's more to architecture than having vision. How one man's loss is transforming perspectives

2019-01-14T16:58:00-05:00

For many architects, much of one's work depends upon the visual possibilities where space can transform. Often overlooked, many designers forget what it is like to design buildings and structures for the blind or hearing impaired. Universal accessibility and inclusive design methods are being discussed more and more within the architecture community. Educators, advocates and architects like Chris Downey use their experience and skillsets to transform the perspectives of architecture for the visually impaired.

Chris Downey speaking to architecture students at the University of Arkansas Image © uark.edu

he main lobby at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, Calif., one of Downey’s first major projects after he lost his sight. Photograph courtesy of John Boerger Image © ncsu.edu

In a recent 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl, Downey shares with the public how the loss of his sight helped him become more aware of what it mea...

Building Voice: Visually impaired architect, Christopher Downey, lectures in Downtown Miami

2015-10-05T12:53:00-04:00

Architect Christopher Downey came to Miami to present a lecture as part of a local exhibit called Listen to This Building. The exhibit is organized Exile Books, a pop-up artist’s book store, and is meant to show the architecture of downtown Miami through the senses of touch and as stated in the title of the show, through hearing. It is believed to be the first architectural exhibit designed to address accessibility for persons with visual impairments. Downey is an architect who is visually impaired having lost his eyesight in 2008 yet continues to practice architecture in the Bay Area. His lecture, “Building Voice” is a play on words, as it can be interpreted as the acoustic characteristics of an edifice or the creation of an individual’s style.

“If you’re going to lose your eye sight, start training yourself to be an architect”, says Downey, who believes his training and the 20 years of practicing architecture before the loss has given him a set of skills (problem solving, criti...

Chris Downey on designing inclusive "multisensory" environments for the visually impaired

2015-07-06T18:40:00-04:00

Many people view GPS and similar emerging interior-wayfnding technologies as a way to 'solve the blind wayfnding challenge.'...Architects still need to be better multisensory placemakers to design and create effective environments for the blind and visually impaired.

Chris Downey, whose story as a blind practicing architect was recently documented in the AIA's "Look Up" campaign this past May, dishes in on his own experiences with embossing printers, wayfinding devices, and graphic input tools, and other emerging technologies that have the potential to vastly improve how architects — both visually impaired or not — will work. However, he also warns about relying too much on those technologies and that architects must uphold the responsibility of designing effective environments that are accessible to everyone of all abilities.

Previously:

AIA launches second video in "Look Up" campaign featuring a blind architect

2015-05-19T20:33:00-04:00

Entitled "An Architect's Story", the video features Chris Downey, a blind architect and founder of "Architecture for the Blind" in San Francisco. The piece, which debuted at the AIA National Convention last week, focuses on Downey's approach to architecture before and after unexpectedly becoming blind in 2008, and features talking-head interviews with Downey, one of his clients, and a student of his at UC Berkeley.

The documentary piece is starkly different in approach and style to the first installment of the "Look Up" campaign. Yes, both have the kind of generically-inspiring music one would have equal luck finding in either a Koch Industries' ad or the trailer for a young-adult romantic drama. But while the first spot, tasked with framing the "Look Up" identity, tended towards cinematic, fast-cut clips of dramatic or cerebral moments to churn up excitement about the profession, "An Architect's Story" is more focused on personal perspective. It strives to take Downey's insights fro...

How a Blind Architect Reframes Design

2014-08-08T14:11:00-04:00

Downey needed something tactile to work with, and he found it in a kids' toy. Spread out before him on the table are stacks of embossed plans ... marked up with brightly colored wax sticks. [...] The sticks warm to the touch and bend easily; they can make precise angles, and—crucially for Downey—their tackiness makes them stick to paper. "Once I realized that, I thought, 'Oh, I could use that to draw on top of an embossed drawing.'" Suddenly, he had a way not just to read, but to make.

Previously, the LA Times profiled Downey and his firm: Blind architect sports an upbeat vision

Blind architect sports an upbeat vision

2014-04-30T14:05:00-04:00

Blind architect Chris Downey says that city planners and property owners should view future construction projects through a different set of eyes. [...] Downey, 51, of Piedmont, Calif., lost his eyesight six years ago after undergoing surgery for a non-cancerous brain tumor. Since then, he has maintained his San Francisco architectural practice. "I have a career without sight. But as an architect, I still have vision," he said with a grin. "The creative process is a mental process."

Designing for a space people won't ever see

2009-05-02T15:19:00-04:00

After Chris Downey, of Piedmont, lost his sight, rather than change careers, he stayed with architecture. Now, with the help of a white cane and drawings that have raised figures, Downey plans buildings for the blind. --
SF Gate