Untitled - Narodowe Centrum Kultury

tytuł artykułu 95
target groups / methods
Teaching aids enabled us to run workshops
in which both sighted and visually impaired
children not only listened to descriptions and
built models with building blocks, but also
touched scale models and entered real buildings.
The scale models allowed participants
to make out some details not represented
in simplified building blocks, and learn the
scale and proportions thanks to models of
people and animals (like the sleeping cat on
the roof of the Agora building).
We hope that our book containing tactile drawings will
not only serve as a valuable aid in teaching blind children
but will also stimulate the senses and imaginations of
children who rarely have contact with this sort of books.
Besides, the graphic representations of fields of non-vision
included in the book will help break the stereotype that
blind people see black.
funding
The project was part-funded by the City of
Warsaw. Sponsors included JEMS Architekci,
Autorska Pracownia Kuryłowicz & Associates
and mediaschool.pl.
Photo: Based In Warsaw Association (5)
challenges
Architectural description is a separate
type of audio description. It is extremely
difficult and requires concentration
from both the writer and the visually impaired
listener. This is because architecture
can be extremely diverse – it may be
open or closed, dense or scattered, stable
and heavy or light and airy. But how
to describe the openness, density and airiness
using words meaningful to blind people
And what about complex forms and
unclear lines, so ubiquitous in postmodern
architecture In such a situation, the
task of creating descriptions for blind people
becomes almost impossible. It is often
difficult to take in a huge building with one
look, let alone describe it in a few words.
The task is extremely difficult but not impossible.
Urszula Butkiewicz and Dorota
Miłosz took up the challenge and did a brilliant
job. In their words, a building “grins
at the passers-by” and “the greenish window
panes glisten amid the greenery like
tiny lakes”. The descriptions are not only
accurate, but also funny, aimed at children
and teenagers.
Based In Warsaw
Association
Our association is a group of culture
practitioners, artists, culture animators,
sociologists and psychologists who
seek to inject life into neglected areas
of Warsaw by various means, including
handing them over to their legitimate
residents – children. We have successfully
completed nine projects, most of
them dedicated to children. Our projects
are driven by reflection on the city and
focus on the city, which we see not only
as a space created by streets and buildings,
but also a social space, the territory
of interaction between residents
and their surroundings.
Based In Warsaw Association (Stowarzyszenie „Z
Siedzibą w Warszawie”)
Mazovia Province
ul. Stalowa 17/19, 03-425 Warsaw
my@wwarszawie.org.pl
www.wwarszawie.org.pl