Amy Huber and Steven Webber, FSU Department of Interior Design

Amy Huber and Steven Webber, FSU Department of Interior Design

“Empathy Tool Kit: Enhancing Intended Spatial Perceptions of Budding Designers

Prepared for “Sensory Experience Across the Disciplines: A Colloquium”

Our knowledge begins with the senses…Immanuel Kant

Often, design students come to their studies with little exposure to “Others” and have difficulty acknowledging varied backgrounds and sensory experiences. Yet, in their professional careers they will almost exclusively be designing for others. Research tells us a student’s prior knowledge can help or hinder their learning (Ambrose et al., 2010, p. 14). Students can assume, stereotype, or marginalize information based on their own experiences. Experiential learning has been useful in previous interior design disability simulation exercises (Cline, 2007). With this information in hand, the course instructor developed an Empathy Tool Kit which was originally posited to foster student empathy and help students acknowledge the plight of “Others” through active simulations and reflection. The intention of the toolkit was to be a helpful mechanism to narrow the gap between the designer’s intended perception of space and the actual perception of space by occupants. The toolkit crafts scenarios from which the student groups navigate various activities simulating a loss of sense or ability. While the kit presented a broad spectrum of impairments (cognitive, sensory, and mobility) subsequent student reflections highlighted a predisposition for visual acuity.

Tyranny of the eye

Avant garde artist Marcel Dunchamp pointed out our general bias toward visual consciousness, calling it the tyranny of the eye. This tyranny became evident in the student reflection testimonial videos recorded following their interaction with the toolkit contents. Students seem to believe that space is interpreted largely through sight. Out of 36 responses recorded, 24 felt sight would most significantly impact their daily functioning. However, their emphasis on visual aesthetics could diminish a full integration of the other senses during the design process. If this were carried through into practice, the perceptions of space by all users would likely be negative, or dull, as people tend to interpret space holistically, integrating all five senses to arrive at an overall perception of a space. These reflections expressed by undergraduate design students could very well be naïve. If the researchers were to provide this same experience to fourth year students, and/or to design professionals, the resulting reflection testimonials could very well differ.

Further, if the designers themselves were to experience the design process with the loss of a sense or ability, how they would then interpret the spaces for others would likely change. Questions such as this are important to ponder as the personal experience of the designer naturally impacts the design process, and, by extension, the design outcome. For an example one only needs to recall Michael Graves, renowned American architect. Following his bout with a near-fatal virus, Graves found himself paralyzed from the chest down. His design process became more acutely focused towards designing spaces that address the needs and perceptions of users with disabilities (Sadick, 2014). Mr. Graves provides an interesting model by which students can learn to alter their own perception of spatial qualities for the benefit of the users and their spatial perceptions.

References

Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M., Norman, M. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Cline, H. (2007). Disability ability: Providing experiential learning experiences in a large lecture format. Proceedings of the Interior Design Educators Council National Conference, Indianapolis, IN. Retrieved from http://www.idec.org/documents/2007IDECProceedings.pdf

Sadick, B. (2014, July 14). Famed architect Michael Graves, in a wheelchair, widens his design focus. Retrieved December 8, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/famed-architect-michael-graves-in-a-wheelchair-widens-his-design-focus/2014/07/14/72ad8430-af82-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html