EXPLORING THE DEAF CULTURE EXPERIENCE IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

Understanding the deaf culture experience of public space accessibility facilities is very important for space designing. Deafness is one of the invisible disabilities, but deaf people can replace their hearing senses with their eyes (visual) as a hearing tool to interact with the interlocutor or read the environment. The accessibility of the deaf room is often neglected by the community, and even the space requirement is relatively lower than that of non-deaf people. The existence of an inclusive architectural system is one of the applications of the concept of deaf space, which can assist them to have the opportunity to participate in quality activities together with non-deaf people. The concept of deaf space is to adapt the architecture to deaf culture to space. Apart from visuals, socially, most people consider deaf culture to be a linguistic minority group using sign language. This paper aims to analyze how the deaf's experience of space can be a reference for designers in interior architecture designing, and is carried out through exploration and study of related literature. The results of the exploration show that the concept of deaf space can be generated through several processing of interior elements including corridors between spaces, proximity, furniture, lighting, colors, materials, and acoustics. All of them contribute and complement each other in forming a complex space. The deaf cultural experience of space depends on the understanding of interior physical conditions of the deaf perception. The concept of deaf space can have an emotional impact on the experience for whoever deaf people are in the room.