Hey folks!

Sorry for the mangled title! Hope I’m doing this correctly.

I’m an interior architect/designer currently trying to write an article about the influence of architecture on people experiencing synesthesia or sensory processing disorders, with the end goal being to give some ideas and suggestions for more universal and inclusive design.

I’m only in the research stage, so I don’t have much to share yet.

A very superficial Google search told me there are so many varieties of synesthesia that it’s impossible to really pinpoint anything common like “most people hear a low note when seeing the colour blue”, or “the colour red tastes like honey”, so I’m curious what it’s like for you? Is shopping fun or torture? What about museums? Is anything ever “quiet” for you? What do you wish public buildings had (or don’t have) to make going there easier/more fun for you? Are there specific triggers?

I wasn’t actually planning on publishing* your stories into the article, I’m just trying understand what life if like for you at this point.

*Publishing sounds super fancy, but I only have 1 subscriber so there’s a large chance nobody would even see it anyway.

Also please feel free correct me if I’m using the wrong terminology, this is new terrain for me.

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences!

  •  Mummelpuffin   ( @Mummelpuffin@beehaw.org ) English
    3•1 year ago

    Hi, I’m sorry that I didn’t see this post earlier. I’m autistic, and I have sensory processing issues, but not synesthesia.

    The single biggest problem architecture causes for me is noise. Public spaces are inevitably noisy. But if the acoustics of the room are poor, then no one can hear themselves over anyone else, and everyone starts trying to talk over the room… which gets crazy pretty quickly. Independent restaurants in older buildings are the worst. Hollow plaster walls + 45 degree corners for the ceiling in some spots + a rowdy Italian family nearby with that one lady that laughs at the top of her lungs = sensory hellhole.

    Extend that 10x to stadium concerts. The audio engineers crank things up so much that the sound waves bounce around until you get something like feedback from the room itself, it all just turns into a white noise assault on your eardrums and I’ve straight-up left concerts because of it.

    Nothing is ever “quiet” for me, really. Actually, I lost it recently when a beginner guided meditation focused super hard on being aware of everything around you- that’s my experience all the time and I wish I could filter things out like most people!

    Shopping: Florescent lights suck. They don’t bother me too much specifically, but they’re a major pain point for a lot of autistic people. Personally it’s just the constant traffic and unwritten “waiting for that one person to stop staring at the canned sauces shuffle”.

    Museums are amaaaazing. I love museums. The Boston Museum of Science is one of my favorite places. Now that I think about it, my favorite designed spaces are all either very large and spacious or very small (in the way that historical homes tended to have more small, private rooms). Anything in-between gets… like, there’s enough room for stuff, and just barely room for quite a few people, and they end up even more crowded and chaotic than either of those two extremes, somehow.