Research On Architectural Space Design Of Rehabilitation Institution For Autistic Children

The worldwide incidence rate of autism is on the rise.At present,no specific drug has been found for autism.Educational intervention is the most commonly used and effective way.Rehabilitation institutions for autistic children are the main places for autistic children to receive educational intervention.However,the number of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children in China is insufficient.At present,the research on autistic children is concentrated in the fields of medicine,special education and so on.The research on the space design of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children is relatively scarce and not deep enough.The architectural space design of many institutions is mostly based on subjective experience and can not fully meet the needs of autistic children.The design strategy lacks scientific and effective evidence guidance,Affect the learning and life of autistic children and the effect of intervention and rehabilitation.Therefore,it is urgent to provide scientific and systematic architectural space design principles and strategies for institutions based on the space needs of autistic children.The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the spatial needs of autistic children and the architectural environment,put forward a scientific and systematic architectural space design strategy,provide a reference basis for the new construction or architectural space optimization of autistic children’s rehabilitation institutions,and make autistic children have a favorable spatial environment.Based on architecture,this paper adopts interdisciplinary method,literature evidence-based method and field research method.Based on the sensory design matrix proposed by Magda Mustafa,this study constructs the architectural environment evaluation matrix of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children,in order to connect the spatial needs and architectural environment of autistic children.The needs research uses the interdisciplinary method,combined with the relevant research in the fields of medicine,special education and literature,to deduce and summarize the spatial needs of autistic children.The building environment is presented in the form of evaluation items,which come from the effective design strategies based on experimental research in relevant literature and the basic standards in relevant specifications and books.Then,based on the principles of construction level,institution type and building type,select the representative institutions with research value in China,and use the architectural environment evaluation matrix of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children to conduct empirical evaluation research.Finally,based on the spatial needs of autistic children,six design principles are put forward.Based on the design principles,building environment evaluation matrix,specific evaluation items and empirical evaluation research,six design strategies are obtained.Through this study,the space needs of autistic children are summarized into six aspects: safety needs,comfort needs,predictability needs,sense of belonging needs,social support needs and sensory intervention needs,so as to provide basic principles for the architectural space design of institutions.The architectural environment evaluation matrix of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children connects the needs with the architectural environment,provides a way for the evaluation of the current situation of the institutional architectural environment,obtains the achievement of the needs of the architectural environment,and provides guidance for the follow-up design.The empirical evaluation research results show that the space security,comfort,predictability and sense of belonging needs are high,and the social support and sensory intervention needs are low,indicating that there is a large gap between the current situation of the architectural environment of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children in China and the space needs of autistic children,and the architectural space design is lack of pertinence.The design principles and design strategies provide direction and systematic reference for the new construction or building space optimization of rehabilitation institutions for autistic children.