ask a blind guy

walk around with a blindfold

I think thats a very interesting question.
what would be even more interesting would be whether or not the individual is born blind or blinded later in life. The latter would mean he/she would have a bank of visual queues in their minds to interpret things into a way which we may be familiar with, whereas the former may interpret it into his or how way as they have no visual queues apart from their imagination.

The project is based on a person who was born blind and does not have a bank of visual queues. Everything to be interpreted would be based on other senses and rely heavily on imagination. I plan on interviewing blind people and test the theory out myself (visit a place blindfolded that I have never been to so that I can experience the space without use of sight or memory) but right now I am trying to find case studies to support my idea, and research different subjects (different species with different ways of perceiving their environment) .. Does anyone know of any buildings that use unconventional materials that help to identify surroundings?? Or perhaps an environment that uses vibrations or sound as a means of direction? I want to associate use of sound, light and touch( by way of materials) to guide one through a space..and use the space to their benefit.... any takers??

remember that a person born blind probably is already used to searching for cues in 'regular' (ie not made with blind people in mind) buildings. they've for the most part adapted to navigating around buildings. If this is a building mainly for the blind, i'd try to place as few obstacles as possible along main paths, make the interior relatively simple to memorize and navigate, and try to restrict the types of cues to very simple and obvious ones (like tactile and sound). oh, and having braille signs wouldnt hurt (though i think its required anyway). and i also think that interviewing the blind as you stated is a good idea. Also remember that in most cases, blind people have heightened their other senses, much more so than people with sight.

that is exactly why I chose to move forward with this idea.. I am in complete agreement with the notion that in most cases, blind people have not had the opportunity to rely on sight to guide them and have had to master interpretation through their other senses.. There is a restuarant in Paris,.. entirely run by blind people, and patrons enjoy their meals in complete darkness.. and I think that is a very vulnerable position to be in, given that I can see and suddenly I am forced to rely on my other instincts.. I think there are many designs today that rely heavily on visual stimulation -(duh)-
since it is the easiest form of interpretation, but there is a neglect in satisfying and appealing to our other senses which should be addressed..

It's rude to shout.

Could you navigate by the directionality of surfaces?

What about ventilation (drafts, air movements)?

I thought about this as an installation some years ago. The idea was to have a very large space, and the space was divided up into a series or grid of points or poles. Each point would be a device that would emit feedback. The user would be blindfolded and equipped with a device that would interact with the device at each pole. So that when you entered the space you would navigate through by interacting with each point. You could even set up different paths through the space. Could be either totally disorienting, or quiet natural...

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to explore this further, but navigating a space through sound is intriguing...

i recently had a beginning architecture class participate in a collaboration with a modern dance class. together the two classes took part in a series of improvisation exercises, one of which was called something like 'knowing your space'. it involved the whole group closing their eyes and walking, crawling, etc. around the space to determine its limits and characteristics. they were to be sensitive to light, sound, textures and temperatures of surfaces, as well as the movement of their peers around them.

after lots of collisions, screeches, and a few bumped heads, the students were asked to stop, settle, and try to guess where they were in the space. most were way off, but all reported that they had learned things about the space that they had missed with eyes open.

I did my thesis on this topic. Quite fascinating. I designed a Lundromat as the program to let me develop all these issues of perception. One of my theories was that everybody has sort of an "expriental map" sort of a way to perceive their surroundings. I was trying to alter the sequence of this experiential map so that vision will be left at last and only as a rectifier of the other senses. Do you think Zumthor's baths in Vals or Fallingwater was design based on vision?...Can you alter the succession of events so that the visions plays an secondary role on your experience of space?. Caould a blind person grasp the concept of transparency?.Here is a list of some books I read ....Depending on your interest and how your project develops you'll find some more interesting than others. Hope it helps.. Keep me posted on your experiments and findings...
Eyes of the Skin- Pallasmaa
Peter zumthor
Steven Holl Idea and Phenomena
Mathematics of the ideal Villa (collin Rowe)
Language of Vision (gyorgy Kepes)
Questions of perception : phenomenology of architecture (a + u july 1994)
Phenomenology of Perception ( Merleau Ponty)
Art as an Experience- John Dewey
Architecture Thermal Delight Liza....don't remember
The hidden Dimension - Edward hall
The poetics of space - Gaston Bachelard...etc.etc.etc
hope it helps you

hey afga - Since my thesis is on sight and not sound, i shouldnt be shouting.. or should I ???
no intention to shout on my part.. forgive me. :)

I am delighted with all the input.. Thanks everyone..
I considered temperature as a means to navigate and with the use of sound and materials, I think it can successfully be acheived.

At a mixed media exhibition in Japan recently, 3 people, myself included, were placed into a completely dark and quite small room with headsets.

Actually for the first half of the exercise we could see dots in front of our eyes mapping the location of each person in the space, but accompanying this was kind of radar-style bleeps which became faster as you approached either another person or a wall. The second half of the exercise was without the dots, using only the speed of the bleeps.

It was quite disorientating at first but we found you could move through the space quite quickly without touching anything. I wouldn't say we were walking as fast as we would with vision but not as cautiously as you might think.

I suppose the speed of peoples movement alters dramatically without sight. Is this important to consider when designing such a space I wonder.

I know that my brother in law, who is almost completely blind, has very few posessions in his house, all of which are placed deliberately. This surprised me at first but makes complete sense of course.