This home in Italy, planned for a visually-impaired person offers lessons in sensitive, inclusive design

What do aesthetics mean to a person without vision? And how do these aesthetics translate into intuitive design and functionality? These were the two questions that were fundamental to Berlin-based Kevin Driscoll and Rion Philbin of So & So Studio while designing Casa Mac, a home for a visually-impaired lady in Vicenza, Italy. Adding to the challenge was the fact that the client had lived in the same home for 50 years—and so, the new design needed to be something that could seamlessly integrate into her lifestyle and one that she could navigate through with ease.

Sensitive Details

For So & So Studio, the first consideration for most of their projects, especially private houses is how the owner interacts with the space throughout the day. To be able to attend to the special needs of the client, there needed to be a whole new level of detailing.

“It was no longer an abstract concept of someone moving from one space to another. We really had to look at how exactly this would be done in the easiest and safest way possible. Everything from the central spine spatial arrangement to eliminating thresholds and minimising material change was a decision that was based on the ability of the client to use the space safely and efficiently,” share Philbin and Driscoll.

A Functional Approach

The entire home has been designed around the client's daily habits and movements through the house. That she had been living in the same home for five decades made it imperative that the process of re-learning the new surroundings was effortless: “In terms of an architectural theme, movement and transition was the main focus,” share the duo.

Conveying their ideas and floor plan layouts without the conventional use of drawings posed yet another challenge. The solution lay in physical models that were extruded into detailed ‘drawdels.' “Using drawdels, we were able to propose various layouts and spatial relationships to our blind client, with ease. As we were describing the spaces and our ideas to her, she could follow the path of our story with her finger within the drawdel and become familiar with various textures through models and material samples,” aver the designers.

Tactile Textures

The attention to detailing also extended to the choice of materials, each of which was carefully considered. In this case, textures became extremely important. “Not only the individual textures, though, but also the combination of them together in what we called our glyphs,” share the architects. Textured tiles were used for the flooring for smooth navigation. And thus, a subtle system was designed to ease the client into her new home. Needless to say, the client and her family were extremely satisfied with the results.

Driscoll and Philbin believe this project was special as it helped them expand their architectural vocabulary. And perhaps its true beauty lies in its subtlety as they conclude, “Maybe the most successful aspects of the house lie in the notion that although the house was in every way designed for a blind person, any evidence of this effort remains quiet and elegant.”

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