Making Sense of Space: How People With Sensory Impairments Shape Their Own Environments

Every home tells a story of adaptation. For many people living with sensory impairments, design is not simply about style; it is about survival, comfort, and self‑expression. It is also about transforming the built world into something that listens back.

We often speak of inclusive or sensory‑aware design as something created for others. Yet across the world, people with sensory differences are quietly shaping spaces that reflect their own lived knowledge — environments that interpret touch, sound, light, and movement in ways that standard design frameworks rarely imagine.

Designing Through Lived Experience

When vision, hearing, or sensory processing differ, perception itself becomes a design tool. A person who is blind or has low vision might prioritise textures and acoustics over visual contrast. Someone who is hard of hearing may organise furniture to enable lip‑reading or to feel vibration through surfaces. A neurodivergent person might structure their space around rhythm, pattern, or predictable transitions to reduce overwhelm. These are not compromises; they are innovations born from deep sensory intelligence.

The architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa reminds us that “the door handle is the handshake of the building” (Pallasmaa, 2005). For many people with sensory impairments, that handshake extends to every detail: the warmth of a surface, the resistance of a floor, the rhythm of natural light across the day. In this way, accessibility becomes artistry, a tactile choreography of movement, sound, and orientation.

Tactility as Navigation

In visually impaired design communities, texture often replaces signage. Flooring changes, from cork to wool to timber, signal transitions between rooms. Handrails carved from warm wood rather than cold metal provide not just safety but reassurance. Even the smell of materials, such as beeswax polish or cedar, can serve as spatial cues.

Disability scholar Georgina Kleege describes this as “haptic mapping” a way of reading the world through skin, temperature, and resonance rather than sight (Kleege, 2017). This approach also aligns with sustainability, where natural, untreated, and regionally sourced materials carry authentic tactile and olfactory qualities that synthetic products often erase.

Sound, Silence, and Spatial Rhythm

For those who are hard of hearing or Deaf, space is felt visually and kinesthetically. Open sightlines allow for visual conversation and signing, while careful light placement avoids glare and shadow on faces. Smooth flooring may help carry vibration, turning music, conversation, or movement into physical rhythm.

Architect Chris Downey, who continued his practice after losing his sight, describes this kind of design as “architecture for the senses we all share” (Downey, 2013). His work demonstrates that sensory‑aware spaces benefit everyone, not only those with impairments.

Self‑Soothing and Self‑Shaping

People with sensory processing differences often design their environments as extensions of self‑regulation. Weighted textiles, consistent colour palettes, diffused light, and quiet corners provide sensory predictability. Environmental psychologist Sally Augustin calls this “designing for personal control,” a key factor in reducing stress and enhancing comfort (Augustin, 2019). When individuals shape their surroundings in this way, they are not only adapting; they are reclaiming agency over how they experience the world.

Towards Co‑Design and Collaboration

These examples remind us that inclusive design should never be charity; it should be about collaboration. Rather than assuming what others need, designers must learn from the spatial knowledge people already hold about their own bodies and senses. Co‑design, where designers work alongside people with sensory impairments, turns accessibility into a shared creative practice.

Sustainability also benefits from this mindset. When we slow down to observe how someone truly lives in a space — how they navigate texture, light, sound, and air — we design environments that are not only inclusive but also enduring. They use less, mean more, and last longer because they are built from understanding, not assumption.

A More Sensory Future

Perhaps the most radical thing we can do as designers, makers, and thinkers is to listen differently — to let those who experience the world in diverse ways lead the conversation. The homes, studios, and sensory sanctuaries created by people with impairments are already prototypes for a more humane future: one where accessibility is inherent, sustainability is felt, and every material speaks softly enough for us all to belong

Further Reading & References

References for Juhani Pallasmaa

Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. John Wiley & Sons.
A seminal work arguing that architecture must engage all the senses, not just vision.

Kleege, G. (2017). More than meets the eye: What blindness brings to art. Oxford University Press.
Explores how blindness reshapes artistic and spatial perception, introducing “haptic mapping.”

Downey, C. (2013). Architectural insight through blindness [TED Talk]. TED Conferences.
Demonstrates how sensory-aware design benefits everyone, reframing blindness as architectural insight.

Augustin, S. (2019). Place advantage: Applied psychology for interior architecture. Wiley.
Examines how design influences stress, comfort, and personal control in everyday environments.

Huelat, B. J. (2012). Healing environments: Design for the body, mind, and spirit. Center for Health Design.
Shows how materials, light, and layout can support holistic healing in healthcare spaces.

References for Georgina Kleege

Kleege, G. (2017). More Than Meets the Eye: What Blindness Brings to Art. Oxford University Press.
In this book, disability scholar Georgina Kleege explores how blindness reshapes artistic and spatial perception. She introduces the idea of “haptic mapping” — navigating and understanding the world through touch, texture, and resonance rather than sight. Kleege argues that blindness is not a deficit but a different way of knowing, offering insights that expand both art criticism and design practice. Her work highlights how sensory differences generate new forms of creativity and interpretation, challenging conventional visual‑centric frameworks.

Reference for Chris Downey

Downey, C. (2013). Architectural Insight Through Blindness [TED Talk]. TED Conferences.
Architect Chris Downey lost his sight mid‑career yet continued practicing, using his lived experience to reframe architecture as “design for the senses we all share.” In his TED Talk, he explains how blindness sharpened his awareness of touch, sound, and spatial rhythm, showing that sensory‑aware design benefits everyone, not only those with impairments. His work demonstrates that accessibility can be a source of creativity and innovation, rather than limitation.

Reference for Sally Augustin

Augustin, S. (2019). Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture. Wiley.
Environmental psychologist Sally Augustin explores how interior environments influence human behaviour, stress, and wellbeing. She emphasises the importance of “personal control” in design — the ability for individuals to shape their surroundings to regulate sensory input and emotional comfort. Her work bridges psychology and architecture, showing how design decisions (light, colour, layout, materials) directly affect mood, productivity, and resilience. Augustin’s insights are particularly relevant to inclusive and sensory‑aware design, as they highlight how people adapt spaces to meet their own sensory needs.

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