In December 2007 I registered as a full-time research student (PhD) within Dundee School of Architecture.  With the Research Title: Way Finding for People with Visual Impairment: A ‘Design Tool Kit’ for Architects, this research aims to explore the real needs and problems visually impaired people could encounter whilst finding their way independently through a building. The Royal National Institute for Blind People has recognised that the built environment fails to instil confidence in the visually impaired in regard to way finding. [1]   This reinforces the need for a comprehensive and creative architectural approach to designing way finding systems for those who have limited sight. 

The overall research will concentrate on what might be called ‘non technological’ tools for assisting way finding for the visually impaired in architectural settings. Joy Malnar and Frank Vodrarka question “What if we design for all of our senses? Suppose for a moment that sound, touch and odour were treated as the equals of sight and emotion....” Addressing pragmatics and non-visual aesthetics, this research will inform and improve the realisation of undemanding way finding systems that rely on holistic somatosensorial stimuli. It will investigate: circulation, aesthetics, spatial orientation and study how the fundamentals of architecture connect to the sensorial experience of way finding.  

The research will adopt a qualitative multimodal approach to assist in validating creative and reflective practice. It will use tacit knowledge from experience of working with impairment charity user groups along with skills gained from the applicant’s architectural training. A combination of action research and ethnographic methodologies will be employed to explore issues in relation to visual impairment and way finding.  

Working in a cross discipline way has provided opportunity to draw on expertise in a supervisory capacity from; Professor Simon Unwin (Dundee School of Architecture), Jeanette Paul, (Head of Postgraduate Studies, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design) and Professor Jennifer Harris, (Interdisciplinary Disability Research Institute, School of Education, Social Work and Community Education.