Contributed by Brooklyn Scotto
Freedom By Design
NC State’s Freedom by Design, a program of the American Institute of Architecture Students, is currently working on an outdoor learning center for visually impaired students at Governor Morehead School. The goal of building this learning center is to provide a more accessible playground for the students.
Jordan Wells, a second-year studying architecture and the construction officer for the Freedom by Design group, said the organization is unique because it focuses on the community rather than a single client.
“It’s one of the only student organizations that allow you to develop beyond ‘theoretical architecture’ or architecture, which only involves designing projects and not being able to see the finished product,” Wells said. “The group partners with local architects to bring these ideas into reality, and in addition to being able to design stuff, students can also be involved in fabrication and hands-on building.”
Devesh Balakrishnan, a second-year studying architecture and the project’s design and documentation officer, said he loves the opportunity to interact with different community members and use their insights to better their projects Freedom by Design provides.
“Most of the work nowadays is digitalized, and you don’t get to interact that much with other people,” Balakrishnan said. “The Freedom by Design group is different. It allows you to work with the members of your community and work on more hands-on projects.”
According to Wells, the previous Morehead school playground was not very accessible or safe for the students.
“Previous to the outdoor learning center, the playground was very prone to flooding, and rather than remediating the issue, a temporary solution of adding mulch was utilized,” Wells said. “Due to this, the mulch would act as a sponge every time it rained, making the surface uneven and dangerous to walk on.”
Wells said Freedom by Design aims to renovate the generic playground into a more niche learning center for visually impaired students. The playground had faulty equipment and some needed to be repaired or replaced.
“The learning center we have built is more than just a playground now,” Jordan said. “You have to experience it to understand the whole idea fully. One of my colleagues, Danny, who is part of the design core, has developed a tactile wayfinding system in braille through which students can touch the surfaces of the equipment and understand its use.”
The development of the outdoor learning center has not been without its challenges. A key aspect of the learning center was incorporating the ideas of many members of the Freedom by Design, Governor Morehead School and the community. This led to the addition of many different pieces of equipment, such as musical chimes, which focus on sound sensitivity for students.
“The designing and making of the chimes were probably the most difficult part of the project,” Balakrishnan said. “Jordan and I executed the chime, which was very difficult as we had to be very precise with the musical notes. We also had to take extra precautions while making the chimes in a workshop zone, as we had to cut the chime pipes to the right dimensions.”
Balakrishnan also said promoting the Freedom By Design group is equally important.
“We want to make sure a lot of people beyond our NC State community know the mission and impact of our work,” Balakrishnan said. “We do this by participating in competitions and social media.”
Balakrishnan and Wells both emphasized the importance of teamwork and cooperation between the Freedom by Design group, Governor Morehead School and the American Institute of Architecture Students.
Anyone interested in contributing to Freedom By Design’s project can reach out to Wells and Balakrishnan at tjwells@ncsu.eduand dbalakr@ncsu.edu.