Gallaudet Eyes the Future With Visual Design
College-bound students know Gallaudet University is the place to see and be seen. After all, the Washington, D.C.-based institution was founded to serve deaf and hearing-impaired students who learn and communicate visually.
Not only does Gallaudet embrace technology that enhances visual learning, it promotes communication through American Sign Language to help students and faculty hear and speak with their hands, facial expressions and body language.
When university officials decided to construct the new Sorenson Language and Communications Center, they recognized the importance of focusing on the institution’s unique visual-centric requirements.
“For the first time in its history, Gallaudet convened a group of deaf and hearing individuals to lay the groundwork and develop a vision for the facility,” says Becky Hill, Heery International project manager. “Not only were we establishing brick and mortar goals but philosophical ones as well.”
Following the visioning session, Architect Hansel Bauman, of Hansel Bauman Architects + Planners, created and led a two-day deaf space workshop. The goal was once again to bring together a diverse group of students, faculty and administrators, along with Heery and John Dickinson, a deaf architect, to determine what a deaf space meant.
“Deaf people rely on windows versus walls to communicate,” says MJ Bienvenu, Gallaudet ASL and Deaf Studies associate professor. “Other campus buildings have barriers and columns that are hard to see through. They make communication difficult.
“We wanted to make communicating in this building easier, as well as create a collaborative environment for departments such as Assistive Technologies and ASL that hadn’t typically worked together before.”
Gallaudet strived to bring nature into the design, and create a facility that would earn LEED certification and serve as a role model for future facilities.
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“When we began the design phase, we initially relied on a geotech investigation from the neighboring building,” Hill says. “When we commissioned a study of the specific site, we realized those assumptions were incorrect. The site, which probably housed a waste dump in the past, had soil challenges. After a great deal of analysis that included costs and schedule, we scrapped the idea of using caissons, and instead specified auger cast piles.”
While the change in materials meant adapting the steel design, it facilitated the reduction of vibrations into the building, which pleased deaf and hearing-impaired users.
From the outset, the design and construction team recognized how important it was to focus on client communication.
“I took a signing class early on to learn some basics,” Hill says. “As a group, we spent a great deal of time making our presentations more visual so the content could be more easily understood by our deaf or hard-of-hearing clients.”
The group sent materials to interpreters ahead of time to give them an opportunity to learn to finger-spell certain construction terms that have no formal signs. Hill says the team also had to establish safety standards for deaf subcontractors who were involved with the project.
With an understanding of deaf culture, SmithGroup crafted a floor-plan that encourages interaction through the location of formal and informal spaces set along natural paths.
“To fully understand the design, it’s vital to understand how Gallaudet students and faculty use the facility,” says Lori Cappuccio, project designer with SmithGroup. “In spending time there, you can see how conversations happen across the atrium or from the balconies above.”
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“Almost every space in this building has access to natural light,” says SmithGroup Architect Greg Mella.
Even more important than the quantity of light flowing into the facility is the quality of light flowing into the facility.
“Because deaf people use their hands, facial expressions and body language to communicate, the design and construction team had to be sensitive to the issue of glare,” Hill says.
The sun coming from the west was hardest to control, leading SmithGroup to design deep porches and specify a silk-screen ceramic-dot pattern for the low-E glass from the third floor to the ceiling.
Energy costs could have also been hard to control given the intense sunlight flowing into the building.
“Careful massing allows a portion of the building to shade itself,” says Cindy Cogil, SmithGroup’s mechanical engineer.
A gently curved balcony and overhangs on the classroom wing provide subtle but effective solar shading.
Another common LEED point made more complex by the building’s end users was the specification of concrete for the sidewalks.
“We had to replace the original white concrete sidewalks with a different color concrete to minimize glare,” Hill adds. “It took the deaf consulting architect several weeks to decide on the most appropriate color.”
Ceiling tiles also required the team to pay close attention to its end users. “We selected ceiling tiles, not only for their recycled value, but for their reflective benefits,” Mella says. “The lights hanging from the ceiling here wash upward rather than facing down where they might create shadows on hands.”
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“We took advantage of a variety of direct and indirect light sources,” Cogil says. “Our goal was to promote energy efficiency and uniformity through the specification of materials such as T-5 light sources while increasing the perceived level of brightness through strategic placement.”
The team was also challenged with minimizing building vibrations that could disturb and distract students.
“While we knew we were going to install efficient mechanical systems, which would earn a LEED credit, the question was where to place them,” Hill says. “Even though it’s more expensive space, we chose the basement to maximize occupant comfort.”
The team also incorporated an economizer cycle into the air handling system to bring in more outside air during cooler times of the year.
Aesthetic details at the facility are not only sustainable, but they also lend a strong design sense. The glass elevators, for example, are sheathed in bamboo paneling, lending a soft natural feel.
“Bamboo is a great green material because it is rapidly renewable,” Mella says.
SmithGroup’s judicious use of three-form color resin panels reference the stained glass scattered throughout the campus.
“They’re made from 40 percent recycled PET, a plastic derived from post-consumer waste like plastic Coke bottles,” Mella says.
The design team selected a different colored resin for each of the three floors to represent earth, sky and water. The colored panels also simplify wayfinding.
Zinc cladding, applied to the exterior, will patina with age and offer another stained glass reference.
“What I love about zinc is that it’s highly recyclable and is a material that will look even better five years after installation,” Mella says.
Of course, the zinc installation was not without its challenges.
“Because zinc isn’t widely used yet in this country, it was difficult to find professionals who could define the details and install it to meet the schedule,” Hill says.
Administrators, faculty and students believe the design and construction team’s added efforts will pay dividends such as attracting and retaining top instructors, researchers and students.
“It’s important to have a building that recognizes the needs of its students,” Bienvenu says. “I get very excited when I walk in.”
Gallaudet President Robert Davila agrees.
“The Sorenson Language and Communication Center sets the standard for all future construction on our campus,” he says. “This may be the first deliberately designed deaf space in the world, but I assure you, it is not the last.”