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Dangermond Keane Architecture is not just designing a faculty building for Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the largest and oldest university for the deaf in the country. It鈥檚 also creating design guidelines for projects for the deaf in general.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been working with (Gallaudet) for many years,鈥� said Christopher Keane, co-founder of the firm. 鈥淭he research is coming out of classes taught at the university, but at the same time they鈥檙e not architects, so it鈥檚 about turning those into a document and a set of principles for architects.鈥�

The firm was first hired multiple years ago to help design the school鈥檚 10-year master plan, which was recently approved. As part of the master plan, one of the first structures that will be built will be a facility for the school鈥檚 interpreters, who help deaf students and faculty interact with outsiders.

The project, along with the entire 10-year plan, will use design strategies that the firm helped develop with the university鈥檚 researchers, its students and on-campus architect, Hansel Bauman, to help extend the 鈥渟ensory reach鈥� of the deaf.

Those that have full use of their senses have a sensory reach of 360 degrees; the deaf do not. Various design strategies, such as using walls that don鈥檛 go all the way to the ground so shadows can let students know if a room is occupied, will be used to try to make up for any missing sensory degrees.

Other strategies, such as using brightly colored walls and certain levels of lighting, will be used to help prevent eye fatigue and to make it easier for students to see sign language being used.

Although the strategies are subtle, they have largely been ignored in the past, Keane said.

鈥淔rankly there is a whole culture surrounding deafness that is being not really taken into account when it comes to campus design,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey prioritize visual access to one another and also to spaces within buildings.鈥�

The biggest challenge associated with using these designs is privacy. If a room is built to have short walls or lots of windows for visibility, how can the room鈥檚 users have any seclusion? It鈥檚 an issue that is still being worked out as the firm designs the 10,000-square-foot faculty building, which will include offices, conference space and private areas.

鈥�(The interpreters鈥�) mission is to be invisible,鈥� Keane said. 鈥淭hey are very good at what they do, but there is a lot of stress surrounding what they do 鈥� so there will be a lot of spaces designed not for work.鈥�

Once the building and the other projects associated with the plan are complete, Keane believes the world will consider Gallaudet to be an innovator of deaf space design.

鈥�(Gallaudet) is the mother ship for deaf culture,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e deaf anywhere in the world, you know about this university. It鈥檚 sort of the home place. (These guidelines) will be a model for other institutions elsewhere.鈥�