Learning and growing in autism-friendly environments

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) delays the development of an individual’s cognitive functioning systems which control our ability to move, learn, socialize, and perceive the world around us. According to the Dynamic Systems Theory, if one cognitive system is compromised, the rest are negatively affected. For children with ASD, whose cognitive systems may be more suspectable to overload, the impact that environment has on our cognitive systems needs to be addressed. Architecture can promote our sensory processing capabilities through mitigating harmful stimuli in the environment and improve concentration and reduce stress through the implementation of biophilic design. Learning and Growing in Autism-Friendly Environments is a project that provides an early childhood education and treatment center to Darke County, OH which currently sits in an ASD resource desert. The design seeks to provide sensory safe experiences, promote curated sensory exploration in interior and exterior spaces, provide places of refuge for when a child is overwhelmed, and offers controlled circulation to allow children time to acclimate and understand their new environments. This project explores how to create an educational environment in which a child with ASD can create educational building blocks and develop skills they can take with them throughout their life.