WEBVTT

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(sound of subway announcements)

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<i>(narrator) We live in a world
built for people who hear.</i>

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<i>(woman) "Hello? Can you hear me?"</i>

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(sounds of many different
day-to-day activities)

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(sounds of many different
day-to-day activities)

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<i>(narrator) But what would our man-made
world look like and feel like</i>

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<i>if it were designed
for those who don´t hear?</i>

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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<i>Gallaudet University in Washington DC</i>

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<i>is a school for the deaf
and hard-of-hearing.</i>

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<i>And they are redesigning entire buildings</i>

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<i>based on the sensory experience
of those who don´t hear.</i>

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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We've only just begun
to challenge ourselves

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to examine how we could
design entire buildings,

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entire campuses, or even cities,

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to be aligned with DeafSpace.

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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Deaf people, as a culture,
have been marginalized largely.

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We've been, as a marginalized community,
developing our own culture

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and that defines
what kind of place we call home,

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how we claim and occupy space.

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And so we've begun
to ask ourselves these questions

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and because of that,
have gotten a lot more creative

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begun to think bigger

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about how we can find different ways

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to align our ways of being
to our environments.

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♪ (calm music) ♪

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The classrooms are oriented
in a semi-circle or U-shape

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so that classmates can continually
visually connect with other classmates.

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So if you want to be involved
in a discussion,

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everybody has a front row seat to seeing.

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♪ (dynamic music) ♪

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In a wider hallway, two people can walk
in parallel, signing with each other.

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But we do have specific
distance parameters

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wherein we can observe
the whole body and its signing.

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Hearing people, though, could disregard
that kind of a distance requirement,

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they can be next to each other,
speaking to each other,

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without that need for the visual field.

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Stairs also require a great deal more
visual attention to your footing,

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and so ramps reduce that.

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So if you are communicating with somebody

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while you're navigating a ramp,
you can do so much more easily.

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♪ (dynamic music) ♪

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Within DeafSpace, we have always relied

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on a heavily visible environment,

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because we're not
getting information auditorily.

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So if you´re sitting
at the top of the terrace,

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you can see all the way to the bottom.

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It's one distinct place

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that can be unified
or have three distinct areas.

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♪ (dynamic music) ♪

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Color and lighting are highly
aligned to communication access.

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Blues and greens will usually contrast

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with most skin tones
enough to reduce eye strain.

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You may want to have
more diffused lighting.

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A lot of the lighting here
is directional so that it can be aligned.

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♪ (dynamic music) ♪

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There are mirrors present

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to allow somebody to know

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and have a sense
of what's happening behind them.

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Through the use of that reflection

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they can know if somebody
is nearing them, behind them

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or if somebody taps them, they look up

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and that reflective space
lets them know who's there.

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♪ (calm music) ♪

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Transparency of, say, doorways.

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so that when a person is in an office,

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they can either have
a transparent doorway or passageway,

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or one that is opaqued

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so that I can see lighting
and shadow and movement

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and know somebody is at the door,
but not clearly see who's there.

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♪ (calm music) ♪

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Very often, people refer
to "hearing loss" as an example,

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which negatively frames
the whole approach from the outset.

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But let's imagine
the deaf baby who has never heard,

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and yet is still described
as experiencing "hearing loss."

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And instead, we propose
a different framing:

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that of "deaf gain."

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What is it that we gain

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by the experience
of being or becoming deaf?

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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DeafSpace, I believe,

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is born of the idea
that we have something to offer the world.

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That being deaf confers

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some very interesting
perspectives on life.

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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♪ (upbeat music) ♪