Last summer I came to know about Chris Downey, an architect in San Francisco who had lost his vision in 2008. After two years he decided to return to his profession and adjusted his work to his changed condition. It struck me as how deeply we identify ourselves with our work and when someone loses their vision they lose that part of themselves.
When confronted with blindness an irrevocable change occurs to the way one lives and works. Vision is not only the way we apprehend the world but also structure our reality and what can be known—losing this reference point has consequences on our sense of identity and independence. It is important to help people re-establish their careers and that aspect of their personalities.
As research has led to indicate, currently there are facilities which help people establish a daily life at home, learn their way around using mass transit, read braille if they wish to learn it, and basic computer skills. There are online guides related to career planning but there are no physical facilities in existence in Toronto that expressly help the visually disabled re-establish their professional lives. This thesis will create a foundation for developing a centre that allows users to find alternate ways of recuperating their sense of who they are and the skills necessary for their field.
During research it was discovered that the biggest barrier faced by the visually impaired is society’s perceptions of their capabilities. Society limits them with what it believes they can or cannot do. Claude Steele, the Dean of Sanford’s Graduate School of Education explains in his book ‘Whistling Vivaldi’ how stereotypes affect us. When the object of a stereotype is aware of the negative perception of him/her, that awareness constrains all manner of ability and performance. There is a need to educate people and to create awareness about this segment of our population and to help integrate them into the workforce. The social integration will be a major focus of the design.
The Proposal
The Ossington Centre for the Visually Impaired (OCVI) accommodates a vast array of practitioners including architects/designers and computer engineers, massage therapists and wood workers, artists and sculptors. This centre allows users to find alternate ways of recuperating their sense of who they are and the skills necessary for their field.
To create the much needed interaction with the community and the neighbourhood, there is a café right in the centre of the building which has the advantage of being close to the programs. The programs include a wood workshop and a clay studio on the first floor, on the second floor there is a painting studio, a recording studio, a massage therapy program, a classroom for computer/office skills, and a library for the students. There is a business centre on the first floor and meeting rooms on both levels to enable a broader usage and to create opportunities to generate income for the centre.
The neighbourhood is welcomed by OCVI to make use of its facilities for a nominal fee. People can use the wood workshop, the clay and painting studios, utilize the library, and even rent the recording studio.
To help create a practical design, which is also aesthetically pleasing to the senses, evidence based design will substantiate the requirements of the project which will translate into viable goals and objectives.
The chosen site, 21 Ossington Avenue, has access to three transit routes which run to subway stations. A dynamic artistic community adjacent to the CAMH benefits the users by way of creative, social and psychological ways of mediating the implications of vision loss.
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