The Sensory Garden Experience: A Sensory Enrichment Design for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind

Abstract

The focus of this master’s report was to examine the sensory garden experience - a comforting space that emphasizes the broad stimulation of all 5 of the user’s senses. Tucson’s beautiful Arizona School for the Deaf & Blind (ASDB) provides an education and sense of place for its students and community; moreover it serves as a cultural resource and center for Deaf culture and developing young minds. However the problem is that the campus truly lacks an outdoor space that unifies the campus as a whole and provides an enhanced sensory experience for its student body and populace. The intent of this master’s report was to develop a set of comprehensive guidelines and principles that designers will be able to use in the future to enhance the sensory experience for deaf and blind users. These guidelines have been applied towards the design of a master plan for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind located in Tucson, Arizona. The sensory garden serves as a means of providing students, faculty and guests with an opportunity to interact with the environment, engage in passive recreation, spaces for opportunistic meetings, the promotion of cultural awareness, and last it provides all of its users with a heightened sensory experience. This report has investigated: the various components of a sensory garden, the concept behind sensory designs, and how our senses interact in relation to spaces. The report also examined potential design standards used in DeafSpace and blind spaces, and last it examined sensory mapping and how its methods are involved in the design process.