ne in every 150 children is estimated to fall within
the autistic spectrum, regardless of socio-cultural
and economic aspects, with a 4:1 prevalence of
males over females (ADDM, 2007). Architecture, as
a profession, is responsible for creating environments
that accommodate the needs of all types of users.
Special needs individuals should not be exempt from
such accommodation. Despite this high incidence of
autism, there are yet to be developed architectural
design guidelines catering speci
fi
cally to the scope
of autistic needs.
The primary goal of this research is to correct this
exclusion by developing a preliminary framework
of architectural design guidelines for autism. This
will be done through a two phase study. The
fi
rst
phase will determine, through a questionnaire
of
fi
rst hand caregivers of autistic children, the
impact of architectural design elements on autistic
behaviour, to determine the most in
fl
uential. The
second phase, based on the
fi
ndings of the
fi
rst,
will test the conclusive highest ranking architectural
elements in an intervention study on autistic children
in their school environment. Speci
fi
c behavioural
indicators, namely attention span, response time
and behavioural temperament, will be tracked
to determine each child’s progress pre and post
intervention, for a control and study group.
This study concludes in outlining the
fi
ndings of both
phases of the study, the
fi
rst being the determination
of the most in
fl
uential architectural design elements
on autistic behaviour, according to the sample
surveyed. The second group of
fi
ndings outlines
design strategies for autism in three points. The
fi
rst is
the presentation of a “sensory design matrix” which
matches architectural elements with autistic sensory
issues and is used to generate suggested design
guidelines. The second is the presentation of these
hypothetical guidelines, two of which are tested in
the presented study. These guidelines are presented
as possible interventions for further testing. The third is a
group of speci
fi
c design guidelines resultant from the
intervention study. It is hoped that these will provide
a basis for the further development of autistic speci
fi
c
design standards, and take us one step further
towards more conducive environments for autistic
individuals.