Instituto dos cegos da Paraíba Adalgisa Cunha: proposta arquitetônica de reforma e ampliação com foco na acessibilidade e orientabilidade

Abstract

This Master's Degree Conclusion Work consists of an architectural project for the reform and expansion of the Institute of the Blind of Paraíba Adalgisa Cunha (ICPAC), aimed at assisting visually impaired people, offering services in the areas of health and education. This final document is composed of the architectural design and its technical report. The focus of the proposal was the accessibility and orientation of the spaces, reverberating in its greater humanization, an issue recurrently experienced by the author in her professional practice as a civil servant of the Army. The main source of information for the design proposal was the perception of users, especially the opinion of visually impaired people, the institution's target audience. The methodology of the empirical work involved three stages: (i) Study of the Problem Question, (ii) Pre-project and (iii) Preparation of the Project Proposal. The first stage included bibliographical research, architectural survey of the building through measurements, photographs and walkthrought, and contact with users - which was inspired by the Post-Occupation Evaluation and involved the accomplishment of Poema dos Desires with fifty (50) users of interviews semistructured with ten (10) key people who lived in the daily life of the place and accompanied by five (05) participants (01 blind person with knowledge of the space, 04 people who did not know: blind, with reduced vision, in a wheelchair and with reduced mobility). In the Pre-design stage, the concept and the architectural programming were defined, and previous analyzes were carried out. The development of the architectural proposal resorted to methods of constraint and typological satisfaction. The result, which meets the objectives set and incorporates the main lessons learned during the course, corresponds to a total of 5,000 m2 of constructed area that, besides accommodating an existing institutional structure, incorporates a sports park for the training of Paralympic athletes.