Architettura per l'autismo. la funzione abilitante delle superfici negli ambienti domestici. Architecture for autism. The Enabling Function of home surface

In the specific field of architecture for autism, fundamentally important is to investigate the technological aspects related to the interior design of domestic spaces, considering their possible role to satisfy the needs of people with severe neurodevelopmental disorders. These disorders characterize people’s entire lifetime, influencing their behavior in all daily activities.The autistic spectrum disorders are heterogeneous and specific, and, regarding the person/environment relationship, the sensory difficulties of each individual are a strongly characterizing condition. Each person has a specialized peculiarity of perceiving and interpreting sensitive incentives, from which dysfunctional condition related to the performance or to the condition of well-being and security can derive. For a person with autism, a sensitive stimulus perceived in a distorted way can cause psychosomatic tensions, distraction, disorientation and loss of attention, delay in communication and physical manifestations of different severity with repetitive behaviors, in some cases violent or self-injuring. The cladding surfaces enabling role contributes to guarantee the possibility of carrying out daily functions in a residential context. The choice of materials and techniques for the partitions surface cladding (walls, floor and ceiling) is one of the most important aspects for the creation of a confined, protected and safe environmental system. This detailed study is part of a larger university research project focused on the realization of domestic environments for severe autistic persons.