Sensory Spaces - STUDENT

Sensory Spaces

This webinar is part of the RAIC 2022 Virtual Conference on Architecture, now available to stream!

Topics: Accessible Design

Length: 1 hour | What's Included: Video, Quiz, and Certificate of Completion 

The session will be an image-rich, process descriptive presentation focusing on how applied design research can be a tool for meaningful, real and measurable improvement in lives challenged by some form of otherness. SENSORY SPACES will be framed as an architectural response to the spatial needs of adults with autism. Andrew King FRAIC Prix de Rome and Catherine Lamarre, director of the Yvon Lamarre foundation, will present the collaborative applied research project undertaken by FLDWRK, Lemay research and innovation initiative, in conjunction with the Yvon Lamarre foundation. Sensory design reaches beyond the visual domain and builds upon the idea of perception of space through all senses. It activates, triggers, and amplifies the inter-sensory relationships of touch, smell, sound, sight, and the wisdom of the body in space. This design approach is deeply inclusive, as it gives users, regardless of their sensory abilities, the opportunity to assimilate information from their environment– to meaningfully engage with the world and to participate in the social connections that take place in it.

In the case of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), sensory inputs are processed differently, which alters the perception and interpretation of space, making a person hyper or hypo-responsive to their environment. The research and design project defined a new paradigm for designing living environments, where the senses are brought forward to build adaptive and inclusive spaces that support the physical independence of adult individuals living with ASD. The short research will unfold around three core chapters that will provide a framework for the design of different typologies of residential living environments for people with ASD. 

Learning Objectives:

By the completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify haptically-based design approaches and methods in architecture, and contextualize their significance.
• Describe transdiciplinary methodologies that are redefining the pre-programmatic design process around health and wellness.
• Communicate broader issues surrounding inclusionary design and their overarching impact on both private and public spaces.
• Develop a template for haptically-based design.

Subject Matter Expert:

Andrew King is one of Canada’s most highly recognized design leaders. King has evolved an inter-disciplinary practice model that merges speculative small practice, large firm design leadership and academic research. King has been heavily recognized, with awards including the Canada Council for the Arts Prix de Rome, four Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence and two AIA Progressive Architecture (P/A) Awards of Excellence. King is Chief Design Officer at Lemay and leads FLDWRK, Lemay's research and design laboratory in Montreal. He has led the conceptual design some of the finest buildings in Canada and internationally, including the Canadian Architect Award winners Place de Montrealaises, Oratoire St. Joseph, the York University Student Centre and the AIA. King holds the Professor in Practice Chair at McGill University's School of Architecture. He has lectured and exhibited internationally, including the Iceland School of Design, the Tate Gallery, La Sapienza University in Rome, New York University, the Design Exchange and the Walter Philips Gallery. King's work in trans-disiplinary design research across the   art/architecture paradigm has included collaboration with galleries and institutions across Canada. He is currently the Professor in Practice at McGill School of Architecture, leading a series of studios dealing with art and architecture methodologies. He is founder of AK A, an ongoing design and art research initiative. He has practiced and taught across Canada and in London, Berlin, Budapest, Rome, Seville, and Copenhagen. King was the Gerald Sheff visiting professorship at McGill university’s school of architecture (2012) and the Azrieli visiting   chair at Carleton university’s Azrieli school of architecture and urbanism   (2009-2010). In 2004, he was visiting professor at Copenhagen’s royal academy   of art, and he has held visiting, adjunct, and special faculty appointments in art and architecture at the university of Calgary, McGill, UBC, Dalhousie, Mount Allison and Banff Centre for the arts.

Catherine Lamarre
B.A., Certified Human Resources Professional
Principal director, Philanthropic Services at the YMCA Foundation, YMCA Foundation and Yve Laramee Foundation 

 

Catherine Laramee has over 20 years of experience in the marketing, design and retail management. Working as an art educator in the early 2000s for people with behavioral disorders, she developed a keen interest and passion for sensory design. Her workshop would go on to become a tool for integration and participation in the artistic community. Sensitized by the challenges of the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric hospitals in Quebec – her background led her to pursuing a certificate in Pervasive Development Disorder now called the Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has since become a member of the Board of Directors of the Yvon Lamarre Foundation. In keeping with its mission, the Yvon Lamarre Foundation seeks to respond to an unmet need in the urban setting and to create an innovative, fulfilling environment, centered on social and community integration.

Pricing A-La-Carte