Tactile plans are architectural plans in relief used to communicate architectural concepts to visually impaired people but others also. These tactile plans have been developed for consultation workshops with local disabled members of the public in Newham, East London. They have been successfully used during 5 years of consultation for the Stratford City Olympic Legacy City development project with the Stratford City Consultative Access Group (SCCAG).
Through working closely with SCCAG, I have been able to identify a technique which was suitable for visually impaired people as well as for everyone else in the group making this mode of communication truly inclusive. The methods used have been developed and tested especially by working closely with Sam and Ron, both visually impaired members of the group. We identified ways to communicate difficult architectural language into simple diagrams by using different visual and tactile elements like using colours for visual people and black raised lines and signs for visually impaired members of the group. David Bonnett Associates have been pioneering this communication technique since 2006.
Method developed by Tamara Kocan for David Bonnett Associates
