Living Environments and Autism: Design Aspects in Literature and Guidelines

The text illustrates the first steps of some research conducted within the European SENSHome project on living environments and indoor spaces for adults and young adults on the autism spectrum. The aim is to understand significant aspects and methodologies offered to architects who deal with designing for autism. The study was conducted through a preliminary collection and further analysis of guidelines from all over the world. The results of the comparison lead to some critical reflections on the use of such guidelines in designing for the spectrum and suggest the need for new metaphors and paradigms to improve the quality of the design process.