CREJ

June 2020 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 27 A Different Breed of Builder Visi t fransenpittman.com t o see why. ELEMENTS Inclusive Design have developed strategies for combining code, sustain- ability goals and the DeafSpace goals while also creating collaborative student-centered learning environments. The Rosedale School, a school for students with severe special needs including social behavioral conditions, medically fragile and autism. The student-to-teacher or -aid ratio is one-to-one resulting in a deep understand- ing of each child. The design team relied on caregivers as advocates for students’ needs. Numerous program- ming and design charettes resulted in a final design of two neighborhoods with communities tailored to the needs of each student group. Central to neighborhoods is a glazed nodal community center from which three primary streets radiate. The first neighborhood contains a series of enclosed niches, womblike spaces, to huddle social behavioral students who have extreme sensory ca- pabilities, as this provides focus and boundary. The sec- ond is a neighborhood of the medically fragile, which has broad hallways for wheelchairs and gurneys, and pro- vides transparency and openness to each other and to exterior gardens. Through the stakeholder engagement, we were able to explore design techniques that achieve agency for all. As Architecture for the Blind Founder Chris Downey describes, the goal is “not creating an adaptive environ- ment that is targeted exclusively and solely to those with particular disabilities, but ultimately envisioning an en- vironment that works for all, inclusive of all.” The more accurately that buildings and cities can cap- ture the needs of everyone in society, the more they em- power difference, inclusion and a sense of belonging. \\ vtrevino@pagethink.com tray@pagethingk.com Page/SST Planners provided complete lab planning services including programming, equipment planning, documentation and construction administration. The architect was Studio Twenty Seven Architecture.