How architecture changes for the Deaf

(sound of subway announcements)

(narrator) We live in a world
built for people who hear.

(woman) "Hello? Can you hear me?"

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

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

(narrator) But what would our man-made
world look like and feel like

if it were designed
for those who don´t hear?

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

Gallaudet University in Washington DC

is a school for the deaf
and hard-of-hearing.

And they are redesigning entire buildings

based on the sensory experience
of those who don´t hear.

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

We've only just begun
to challenge ourselves

to examine how we could
design entire buildings,

entire campuses, or even cities,

to be aligned with DeafSpace.

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

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

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

and that defines
what kind of place we call home,

how we claim and occupy space.

And so we've begun
to ask ourselves these questions

and because of that,
have gotten a lot more creative

begun to think bigger

about how we can find different ways

to align our ways of being
to our environments.

♪ (calm music) ♪

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

so that classmates can continually
visually connect with other classmates.

So if you want to be involved
in a discussion,

everybody has a front row seat to seeing.

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

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

But we do have specific
distance parameters

wherein we can observe
the whole body and its signing.

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

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

without that need for the visual field.

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

and so ramps reduce that.

So if you are communicating with somebody

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

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

Within DeafSpace, we have always relied

on a heavily visible environment,

because we're not
getting information auditorily.

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

you can see all the way to the bottom.

It's one distinct place

that can be unified
or have three distinct areas.

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

Color and lighting are highly
aligned to communication access.

Blues and greens will usually contrast

with most skin tones
enough to reduce eye strain.

You may want to have
more diffused lighting.

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

♪ (dynamic music) ♪

There are mirrors present

to allow somebody to know

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

Through the use of that reflection

they can know if somebody
is nearing them, behind them

or if somebody taps them, they look up

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

♪ (calm music) ♪

Transparency of, say, doorways.

so that when a person is in an office,

they can either have
a transparent doorway or passageway,

or one that is opaqued

so that I can see lighting
and shadow and movement

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

♪ (calm music) ♪

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

which negatively frames
the whole approach from the outset.

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

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

And instead, we propose
a different framing:

that of "deaf gain."

What is it that we gain

by the experience
of being or becoming deaf?

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

DeafSpace, I believe,

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

That being deaf confers

some very interesting
perspectives on life.

♪ (upbeat music) ♪

♪ (upbeat music) ♪