Honorable Mention: Social Sensory Architectures Offers Comfort and Healing Through Design

“This project tackles the larger issue of architecture not just being a spatial experience, but also a healing experience, and that’s so important in the context of today.” —Juror Tom Chung, AIA

The first time Sean Ahlquist’s 8-year-old daughter saw one of his 3D knitted fabric tubes, “she did a nose dive right through it,” recalls the assistant professor of architecture at the University of Michigan. Made from elastic yarn and doused in colorful light projections, the inviting, tactile, and pliable environment helped his daughter, who is autistic and nonverbal, overcome her sensory-based anxieties. “She could discover the ways that she wanted to engage with it,” unlike with conventional playground equipment, he says.

Ahlquist has long explored both the interplay and distinction between textiles and structures using an industrial CNC-knitting machine. “As soon as I created architecture out of fabric, it became an object,” he says. But, in the process of its creation, the resulting object would lose the tactile appeal that, say, a sweater or a blanket may possess.

That led Ahlquist to think about his daughter, who uses her hands and eyes to interact with the world. With 3D knitting, he realized he could create complicated play environments, such as seamless tubes, concavities, and open expanses onto which he could project lights and images. Though he has some research for reference, Ahlquist designs the undulating, funicular forms intuitively, guided by a sense of what will satisfy “the diversity of multisensory experiences that the audience of children with autism commands,” he says.

In spring 2015, Ahlquist demonstrated his first 7-cubic-foot structure in a school for special needs students in Ann Arbor, Mich. So far, the children, including his daughter, love to play with it. The next step, he says, is to engage researchers to assess and measure its actual impact on the students.

Whatever the results, Ahlquist says he has surpassed his goal of blurring the line between fabric and architecture: “It’s about connecting two worlds, two realms of expertise.”

Project Credits
Project: Social Sensory Architectures
Designer: University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ann Arbor, Mich. . Sean Ahlquist (assistant professor)
Project Team: University of Michigan Medicine Department of Psychiatry . Costanza Colombi; University of Michigan School of Kinesiology. Leah Ketcheson; University of Michigan Taubman College . Oliver Popadich
Research Assistants: Shahida Sharmin, Jordan Turkomani; Roujia Bai, Sommer Cade, Yichen “Janet” Dong, Grace Earl, Teruaki “Aki” Hara, James Hartman, Chang Liu, Giovanni Martinez, Mariana Moreira de Carvalho, John Spellman, Peyton Steurer, Mingyang Xia, Yiwen Yan (architecture students); Erika Goodman, Erin Almony (kinesiology students)
Fabricator: Sean Ahlquist
Yarn Supplier: McMichael Mills
Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Material Supplier: Goodwinds
Funding: University of Michigan Taubman College, University of Michigan MCubed Third Century Initiative, Michigan Economic Development Corp., Stoll
Special Thanks: Spectrum Therapy Center . Mary Burke, Tabitha Wisecup; Thinkery . Robin Gose; Str.ucture . Julian Lienhard
Size: 25 to 150 square feet

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