ARCH 509, Section 18

This course focuses on designing tactile interfaces and environments, along with their multisensory visual, auditory, resistive and haptic feedback, as means to address challenges in movement and social behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The course will cover topics ranging from technical skills in programing, spatial design and fabrication of textile structures, to capturing computational and observational data for the study of social and sensorial interactions. For those with ASD, sensory experience is commonly magnified. Environmental factors can either impose a significant barrier or provide beneficial influence. We will look to study how the latter, in our design and testing of sensorially-responsive textile-based prototypes, can serve as a physical “intervention” to help navigate and overcome the former. A primary outcome from the course will be the development and testing of new prototypes throughout the semester, collaborating with local schools and science museums where the prototypes can be tested at events that have been designed specifically for children with ASD.