Blogging Task 1: Disability
Disability remains widely avoided in architecture (and mainstream architectural theories and discourses). In practice, it is often approached as an ‘afterthought’ or box-ticking exercise.
Having watched the film by Christine Sun Kim (https://vimeo.com/31083172), it has made me reflect on sound, just one aspect making up the ‘language of spaces’ (Jones, 2016) and their atmospheres.
As we see in the film, Kim, who is hard-of-hearing, navigates and responds to how she can (re)claim sound, not departing from the position of the majority ‘other’, but in terms where she can use her position to revel and explore what sound means to her. I believe this is key, employing her experiences and positionality, as a means to bring about new possibilities and innovations with sound.
In year 3, when briefing our Interior Design students to design a large-scale programme/space as part of Unit 10, the senses and atmospheres are a crucial tenant of the spatial design process.
Below is a quote by architect Sir David Adjaye I have used often to discuss the importance of materiality, texture and acoustic qualities of spaces:
‘Resonance is important not only because of technical reasons, but also because of atmospheres. It is about creating atmosphere and spaces…The acoustic atmospheric effect plays very directly with the subconscious. It affects the people even before they realize what is going on’ (Being in the Library. Park Books, Zurich, 2021)
We all experience, in one way or another, a form of ‘disabling’ in (often public) spaces. This position could be a foundation to engage the students creatively with how spaces impact users and has the potential to ‘reveal architecture’s deepest assumptions about what is valued and noticed, and what is marginalized and forgotten (DisOrdinary Architecture Project).
Learning about Kim’s creative practice and intended dialogue her work opens, has made me reflect on how we can get our Interior Design students at Chelsea College of Arts to expose and challenge underlying attitudes of what constitutes ‘disability’ and the assumptions and practices that ‘frame disabled people in particular, in limited ways’ (DisOrdinary Architecture Project). This activity would not only allow students to question their assumptions, but also open alternative forms of developing ‘inventive interventions’ based on reflections of how the ‘normal’ is constructed in everyday life.
Hi Rachel, I love that you discuss the importance of acoustic atmosphere – that plays on the subconscious and affects how we feel and possibly interact in a space. You acknowledge that disability is not always at the forefront of architects minds when designing, I wonder if you could set your students a project brief based on inclusive design practice rather than specialised or adaptable. To consider the idea that disability is not something one has but something which is done to a person via attitudinal or environmental circumstance such as an inhibitive flight of stairs – affecting some through the circumstances within which they find themselves in. To design with an emphasis to remove these barriers would be a celebration of inclusive design practice.