by Tracy Ostroff

SmithGroup is designing the new James Lee Sorenson Language and Communications Center (SLCC) at Washington D.C.’s Gallaudet University, one of the world’s leading institutions for the deaf and hard of hearing. Through the fascinating design process, says SmithGroup’s Tom Butcavage, the team is focusing on a heightened visual experience or “visu-centric” design for the Gallaudet community.

“The Sorenson Center is intended as a true landmark, and will occupy an important site on this historically and architecturally significant campus,” says Butcavage, SmithGroup’s lead designer for the project. “It really is a great design opportunity.” The building will take its place in one of Gallaudet’s two main quads. The campus does not have a detailed master plan, but the thought is to connect the building with a major campus walk that also links up with the primary and secondary schools on the university grounds.

The 83,000-gross-square-foot academic teaching and research facility will include classrooms, laboratories, clinics, libraries, and office space. Departments housed in the new Center will include American Sign Language and Deaf Studies, and Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences.

What’s particularly interesting about this building, Butcavage explains, is that it will bring together American Sign Language, the language of Gallaudet’s campus, with research on assistive-hearing technologies in the speech and language labs. The two concepts haven’t always coexisted. For example, he says, at one point sign language was forbidden with the idea of encouraging the deaf to read lips and speak. While that approach is no longer in force, the new space for interdisciplinary research promises to bridge American Sign Language with research in assistive hearing devices, such as cochlear implant technology.

“Visu-centric design”
The team is just embarking on the design development phase. SmithGroup is taking cues from nature and the organic experience. “Most of the other buildings on campus are massive and inward looking. This structure is transparent.” Butcavage says that before they were brought in, the architect brother of a Gallaudet professor was helping to establish design principals with the idea of visu-centric design, a term new to the SmithGroup planners. Combining the two concepts, the team looked at images of nature. For example, aerial views of rivers informed the way they configured the main circulation path. That geometry allows for more gentle angles at corners to make it easy for deaf people to move through the building.” The project will be LEED™-rated, consistent with “careful manipulation of natural elements,” Butcavage says.

“The idea of the building being organic translates into it being natural and easy to use. It bridges the idea of the deaf state of being as a natural and organic experience.” The SmithGroup team is excited about the many layers of meaning and the idea of taking on an architecture project that is so much about a heightened visual experience. SmithGroup’s team also includes Lori Cappuccio, lead designer on the project; lighting designer Rodrigo Manriquez, of SmithGroup; and acoustic consultant Cavanaugh Tocci.

Specialized expertise
Joining the SmithGroup design team is George Balsley, a deaf architect from Amherst, Mass., who will offer special expertise to ensure that the architectural, lighting, acoustic, and audiovisual aids are supportive of a deaf design environment. Deaf-friendly elements incorporated into the building’s design will include diffused lighting that is not glaring, powerful speaker systems to encourage reverberation, telephone access technologies such as video and text relay services, closed captioning, and open flexible classrooms to facilitate visual access. Balsley also helps ease communication and offers fresh input.

In November 2004, Sorenson Media and the Sorenson Legacy Foundation donated $5 million to Gallaudet University to create the Sorenson Language and Communications Center. The Sorenson Center will also include Sorenson video phone booths, an exhibit component with a timeline of deaf history, and a clinic for the public.

“We are very impressed with SmithGroup’s clear understanding of the new building’s purpose,” said Dr. Jane Fernandes, Gallaudet University provost. “We look forward to working with them to construct a state-of-the-art facility for the deaf and hard of hearing people.” Butcavage praised the client’s engagement with the architectural design team, calling it “focused and engaging.” The building is scheduled to start construction next June, with completion targeted for November 2007.

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