A material sampler, a safe pathway, light-absorbing installations or an in-app sensory map - these are solutions created as part of classes at {tag:School of Form} that make the museum visit experience comfortable for all visitors.
People studying at the School of Form, in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, designed innovative solutions to make the museum space more friendly and accessible for neurodiverse people.
What can be done to make visiting the museum more comfortable?
The research and design task the students undertook was to create a sensory map that would represent the space, its functions and the sensory experiences possible in it. Such a map could be very effective in making a facility more accessible to neuroatypical people (on the autism spectrum, ADHD, dyslexia, dysparxia, Tourette Syndrome, synesthesia or other neuroatypicalities).
Through interdisciplinary research, students analyzed how neuroatypical people perceive the museum space - what makes it difficult for them, and what helps them fully experience the place. The results of their work are real solutions to support neurodiversity in public spaces.
- say presenters Dr. Monika Rosińska and arch. Marta Wierusz.
Project "Light sensitivity" - Anna Walczak, Kornelia Komosińska
The students investigated how a neuroatypical person perceives the museum space. While walking through the MSN space - and asked her questions such as "How do you feel?", "What focused your attention?", "Where was it most difficult for you to focus?". Since the research revealed that a factor that significantly hinders staying in the gallery space is too much lighting, the authors of the project proposed creating light-absorbing installations.
Light sensitivity - installation
Anna Walczak, Kornelia Komosińska
Sensory accessory - Julia Grabowska, Zuzanna Orlof, Weronika Pawlikowska
The authors of the project "Sensory Accessory" analyzed their experiences, the elements of the museum's architecture, the textures and materials used in it, and the feelings of the neuroatypical people surveyed, who found it difficult to find the entrance to the building, large clusters of people, focus on a longer text, and uneven lighting. The designed accessories are analogous to the markings on the walls of the building, which can be touched. The physical, three-dimensional form of the museum map is an object that will help people with unique sensory experiences find their way around.
Sensory accessory
Julia Grabowska, Zuzanna Orlof, Weronika Pawlikowska
Sensory Map app - Oleksandra Milishchuk, Kalina Nachtlicht, Piotr Matey Pows
Inspired by solutions known from the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the mobile app offers museum visitors to get acquainted with the stimuli present in the space even before entering the museum. Users can check light or noise levels, and use communication cards to help express their needs.
Sensory map application
Oleksandra Milishchuk, Kalina Nachtlicht, Piotr Matey Pows
Material sampler - Magda Szatynska, Zofia Jedruszczak
Magda Szatinska and Zofia Jedruszczak focused on the sense of touch. The students pointed out that for many neurodiverse people, the ability to touch the objects around them, which is usually lacking in museums, greatly improves well-being. The answer to this problem is the material sampler they designed - a collection of materials on loan for the duration of the tour that mimics those used to create the works in the exhibition.
Material sampler - Magda Szatyńska and Zofia Jędruszczak
Photo: Maria Sadowska
Pluggers - Ewa Stacewicz, Agata Germain, Liza Nalewajko
Ewa Stacewicz, together with Agata Germain and Liza Nalewajko, attempted to solve the problem of feeling lost in the museum space caused by the repetitiveness of the interiors. Sometimes this makes visitors not only unable to find the exit, stairs or tolaet, but even feel panic. The designed prongs are small concrete objects that hold different-colored ribbons marking, for example, the tour route.
Plugs
Ewa Stacewicz, Agata Germain and Liza Nalewajko
The class also included the "Hood" project by Ewelina Dzienyńska, Alicja Kryczka and Aleksander Walczak, as well as the 3D Sensory Map project from Adrainna Król and Ewa Logé.
A positive surprise in working with the young designers and designers was the openness to understanding the issues of neuroatypicality and the unusual approach to the original guideline, which was the sensory map. It turned out that the young designers and designers found solutions that were interactive, mobilizing and encouraging users to share their individual sensory impressions or filter the map for those stimuli that they found challenging and difficult.
- conclude the presenters.
The class was co-organized by the APA Wojciechowski studio, while substantive support was provided by the Atypika Foundation.
