Visit to the Royal National Institute of Blind People
As part of the office’s EDI initiative, team members from the London office toured the newly completed RNIB building in King’s Cross. Eva Barnett shares her reflections on the experience.
In November we were lucky enough to have a tour around the recently completed Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) headquarters in Kings Cross, London by the Senior Project Manager Tricia Smikle, inclusive design lead from Buro Happold Jean Hewitt, and Built Environment Manager at the RNIB Mary Noble. The project, completed in 2023, took over Allies and Morrison’s refurbishment of the Grimaldi Building, to create a new and downsized home for the organization.
The refurbishment has become an exemplary project for the discussion around inclusivity in design. Naturally, designing for those with visual impairments was at its heart. However, it also became the first project designed to the PAS 6463 – Design for the mind – Neurodiversity and the built environment. This guidance, drafted by Jean and championed in the project by Tricia, was being completed at the time and is understood to be the first standard to provide guidance on designing spaces that accommodate for different neurological profiles.
At the backbone of the project then, was a series of driving forces from different directions: from the physical place, a question of how a precise evaluation of retained elements and phasing can create savings that enable the key changes; from the company, an essential need to hold those with visual impairments at the core of any move; and finally from the team, a wish to make the project a ‘beacon for inclusivity’. On the tour we learned how these features were carefully woven together, making a building that does not abandon one factor for the sake of making another great, but instead works through the complexities and sometimes contrasting needs to create spaces where the factors can enhance each other.
These factors were considered at different spheres of influence, from the large urban scale to the detail. It started in the choice of the Grimaldi building. Great care went into finding a new home that would consider the transition for the users as well as the practical requirements. Here, the renovation became an exercise about the organisation and culture as much as the physical design. The location was central and gave a straight line route to Kings Cross, noted by new TFL audio announcements. During the transfer, workers were given tours to provide a familiarity to their new journeys to the building and key local points (the post office, the corner shop etc).
At the built level, these broad inclusivity-focused design moves were woven throughout. A detailed inclusivity audit combined with continuous stakeholder workshops and testing, allowed the team to assess what the essential moves would be and how the existing fabric currently operated. In the building this resulted in the expected points like tactile flooring and braille, a sensory room and visual impairment focused technology and equipment. But it also covered simple and subtle details that are less often talked about – having a contrasting edge to the kitchen cupboards so they’re visible when left open, small markers on the handrails to indicate the top and bottom 3 steps on a staircase, or fully adaptable lighting. Clarity and wayfinding were addressed naturally, by highlighting the main routes with clear diffuse lighting and breaking up the bright colours of the RNIB logo to give each floor a distinct identity. These considerations extended from the design to the management plan. For example, in ensuring that the entrance, designed to provide a gentle transition to the indoor environment, remained decluttered in use.
On leaving, one of the most uplifting things we took away was how a building, or even simply how a building project is run, can have the potential to change a culture. The team found that the basic act of saying the project cared for neurodiverse users enabled people to feel confident to talk more openly about their personal neurodiverse experience. It was clear too that in designing for neurodiversity, you address such a broad range of experiences, that you implicitly design better spaces for people with many other sensitivities. I imagine that having spaces that subtly but clearly identify themselves as being accessible allow that culture to grow, creating a cycle that is a respite for anyone regardless of their neurological profile.
