Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI) Immersive Design Workshop

Earlier this semester, a group of learners who are blind or visually-impaired, organized by the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI), participated in an immersive design workshop at Virginia Tech which was led by faculty and students of the School of Architecture.

The workshop engaged participants with a blindaccessible design project, supplemented by guest lectures, videos+ readings, tours of sites in and around the university, and instruction in emerging building technologies. It provided career exploration experience in the discipline of architecture, and gave participants the opportunity to improve their self-advocacy skills while interacting with university students and navigating a college campus.

Virginia Tech students, working under the guidance of Assistant Professor Dr. Andrew Gipe-Lazarou, received university credit for preparing and instructing the workshop, which aims to both address the spatial needs of the blind community and call into question the 'ocular-centrism' of design by exploring ways in which architecture can be instructed non-visually.