ARCHITECTURE AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED: WYATA GUNA SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL AND STUDENT DORMITORY, BANDUNG, WEST JAVA

• Main Author: Ilham Akbar, Mohammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Arsitektur
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/53584
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Bandung Special Needs School (SNS) A is the oldest SNS in Southeast Asia, established in 1908 as a school and dormitory for the blind. The SNS is located at Wyata Guna Complex, Jl. Pajajaran 50- 52. In 2019, the SNS faced eviction threats from the Social Ministry as Wyata Guna was being converted into an advanced rehabilitation facility. The West Java Government requested a land grant from the Social Ministry of 15.000 m2 from the 45.000 m2 at Wyata Guna to remain as a school (kindergarten-high school) and dormitory (elementary school-varsity). The land grant opens an opportunity to redesign the school and dormitory currently in substandard condition. There are three key design issues: Accommodating students’ disabilities while preparing independent life; Accommodating school’s public function as blind education resource center while maintaining students’ privacies; Responding to historical building (house of SNS founder; C.H.F. Westhoff). Students’ disabilities are accommodated through flexibility of class size based on disability type: blind and multiple disabilities; nonvisual cues (sound, wind, smell); tactile mobility guides; simple/perpendicular circulation for orientation; avoiding glare (low-vision) and echo (blind). The design accommodates independent life curriculum: activities of daily living through independence- based dormitory; and orientation-mobility through difficulty variety of horizontal and vertical circulation. Public function is accommodated through clear private-public zone division, with the site’s eastern part allocated as a public park and repurposing of Westhoff’s house as a history museum. Responding to the historical building, roof shape and distance between building masses are made to create a visual continuity with Westhoff’s house.