Aesthetic appreciation

In February 2006, VocalEyes recruited its first visually impaired member of staff, Toby Davey, to be Deputy Director Service Development. Having enjoyed accessing the theatre and visual arts courtesy of VocalEyes for a number of years, the artform he wanted mediated to him was architecture and the built environment. What is a building ‘about’? What constitutes a grand design? What matches a building to its purpose? Discussions with Royal Institute of British Architects, Arts Council England and the Centre for Accessible Environments followed, and a pilot project took place in Brighton during the 2007 Architecture Week. VocalEyes always works from what a visually impaired person (VIp) wants, and this was no exception. We sought interest from our 3,000-strong database. A VIp focus group, together with describers and architects, then devised a tour of two contrasting buildings – the Theatre Royal, a conglomeration of 18th century fishermen’s cottages, and the Jubilee Library, a state of the art building. Lessons learned include: that there is a hunger for this among visually impaired people; that pre-visit factual information is vital for VIps to create an initial internal picture, resulting in less time on the tour giving dates and sizes; that live interactive delivery in an event setting is vibrant and creates a buzz; that a tactile object, model or raised image plan, would be very popular; and that a ‘second voice’ – perhaps the architect, or user of the building – is not just the cake’s icing, but the egg, binding the ingredients together.
We took these lessons forward to ‘Open House 07’, giving four tours of iconic buildings over the two days: one of these was Barts Hospital’s West Wing. This Grade I listed James Gibbs building was recently redeveloped to provide an integrated breast care centre, improving the patient experience. The architect, Nigel Greenhill, worked closely with English Heritage, medical experts and contractors to produce a patient-centred building, able to support 21st century facilities whilst respecting the proportions of the original building and preserving any remaining period details. The West Wing is unlike almost any other hospital facility you will visit: there is no clinical smell, no ugly, easy-wipe surfaces nor grim, windowless waiting areas. Instead, the spaces and furniture are elegant and of the highest quality.
 

Our describer, Di Langford, together with Toby Davey and Nigel Greenhill, devised a journey through the spaces, starting at the outside which retains its classical but distinctive Gibbs architecture. They determined what particular aspects should be incorporated in the pre-event recorded information and what should be described on the day, how much detail to include, what to have available to touch, and what support or access issues might occur. Gibbs’ cantilevered oak staircase gives a grandeur to the entrance and almost a sense of awe, but the design requirements for the Breast Cancer Care unit were that it should be restful and calming, hence the salon-like waiting area, and the cool colours on walls, floors and ceilings. On the day, the double act of Langford and Greenhill went down well, with the describer offering well informed, non-technical descriptions of what was before and around the audience, and Greenhill taking his cue to identify how design decisions were made. All those attending learned a great deal and had a stimulating exploration of a building they would rather not be attending for its real purpose, but which had its own architecture worth. Greenhill announced that his eyes had been opened by the need to think about the building and its design from a completely different aesthetic viewpoint, that of a blind or partially sighted person.