The unusual title of this book comes from a fundamental AvroKO design principle, "best ugly," which originated from a trip to China, where the term signifies something that is beautiful and charming in ...
An educational institute’s new conference room puts the emphasis on the human side of design -- and offers some important lessons for hospitality projects.
By Mary Scoviak
I'd like to think that the new conference room at Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) sums up the next trend in hospitality design. It's not about zones and experiences; it's about people. Each architectural and design element anticipates the varying communication needs and physical abilities of the people who will come together in this space.
Harrison Bridges & Associates Architects, Pittsford, N.Y., used input from the institute's students, faculty, staff and a consulting architect who is deaf to design a room that can accommodate 300 or more people for large events or break out into two rooms for smaller gatherings. They created a space with no parallel walls to avoid audio wave amplitude. Curved walls mean the sound waves don't bounce back onto each other as they move from wall to wall. Ceiling-mounted robotic cameras have a 360-degree turn radius so that they can capture the image of every speaker or signer in the room. Through architecture and design, the room is set up to balance the acoustics within one decibel so that the sound is even no matter where anyone sits or stands.
All lights are baffled and set in a straight-down position. Lights closest to the front of the room are on a separate circuit so they can be dimmed or "halved." That enables the audience to view media but still see people who are signing. Windows have two shades-one that diffuse light when the sun is too bright, a second that blocks light completely for special media presentations or privacy.
Neutrals dominate the design -- not because they're making a statement but because subdued colors are calming. "The ear is not a muscle like the eye; it can go on listening for long periods of time. The eye gets tired when reading captioning or watching someone use sign language for long periods. It needs occasional breaks. So a soothing background for watching images/captioning is a great help in easing eye strain," says Doney Oatman, special assistant to the NTID president (Alan Hurwitz) for interpretation and special projects.
All furniture in the room is movable for easy reconfiguration but also to accommodate a mix of different types of wheelchairs and standard chairs. Oatman says. The designers covered the basics-wider doors, ramps and audio/visual warnings and markers. But, they called in experts to make sure important details weren't overlooked. For example, NTID's technical crew consulted with a professional in the field of visual impairment and blindness to determine what color would provide the highest contrast as a cable wrap. That sparked the decision to use yellow.
Design that answers customers' needs doesn't have to break the rules or break the bank, says Oatman. "A little thought during the planning goes a long way toward setting the scene. Keep asking yourself and everyone on the team whether each step of the design works for every customer," adds Oatman.