Autism-friendly architecture from the outside in and the inside out: an explorative study based on autobiographies of autistic people

Researchers and designers each developed a particular vision on autism-friendly architecture. Because the basis of this vision is not always clear, questions arise aboutits meaning and value, and about how it can be put to use. People with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum are central to these questions, yet risk to disappear from the picture. Refocusing the discourse about autism-friendly architecture on them is the aimof the explorative study reported here. Six autobiographies written by autistic (young)adults were analysed from two different viewpoints. First, concepts from designguidelines concerning autism-friendly architecture were confronted with fragments fromthese autobiographies. The second part of the analysis started from the autobiographies themselves. This analysis shows that concepts can be interpreted inmultiple ways. They can reinforce but also counteract each other, thus asking for critical judgment. An open space is preferred by some autistic people because itaffords having an overview, which increases predictability, and distancing oneself fromothers without being isolated. Others might like this space to be subdivided into severalseparate spaces which affords a sense of structure or reduces sensory inputs present in one room. The six autobiographies provide a glimpse of autistic people's world of experience. Analysing these is a first step in revealing what architecture can actually mean from their point of view. For them, the material environment has a prominent meaning that is, however, not always reducible to design guidelines. It offers them something to hold on to, relate to or structure their reality.status: publishe