Analysis of a project to design the ideal classroom undertaken by a group of children on the autism spectrum and students of architecture

Iain Scott works within the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), UK. This paper describes a week-long project to design the ideal classroom undertaken by 12 secondary-aged pupils on the autism spectrum from Kaimes School in Edinburgh. The project was run by the author with 10 students from the School of Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and ESALA. ESALA is the newly formed Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture created through an alignment of programmes previously offered separately by The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art. The students employed projective techniques and established methods of analysis to help understand the core meanings and concerns contained within the work of the children. The paper proposes that as with all building users, children with autism should not be excluded from the process of designing buildings to address their physical and psychological needs.