“A house is a mountain is as hat” is an accessible, tactile and easy to read Children's Book about architecture that explores "the house" in its many dimensions. It introduces concepts about the built environment and the power of architecture - how it can be created, used and transformed consciously, in harmony with the planet. With colors and relief, large letters and Braille, is available in libraries and bookshops and may also be read by children who are blind or low vision.
National
Portugal
Lisbon Metropolitan Area
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Lisbon Architecture Triennale Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Filipa Last name of representative: Tomaz Gender: Prefer not to say Nationality: Portugal Function: Education Department Coordinator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Palácio Sinel de Cordes, Campo de Santa Clara, 142-145 Town: Lisboa Postal code: 1100-484 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 21 803 8540 E-mail:edu@trienaldelisboa.com Website:https://www.trienaldelisboa.com/
The Lisbon Architecture Triennale is producing a children's book on architecture. Because architecture is present everywhere and in every moment of our lives. It defines the spaces where we eat, sleep, work and have fun and so much more!
With simple and easy-to-understand language, the book explores "the house" in its many dimensions. The house that protects, its personality and components... how it works, its site and setting. The different kinds of houses, in the world, and about the house of our imagination.
It’s dedicated to children between 6 and 10 years old - the ages at which they begin to learn to read and communicate visually, and to systematically study the physical and cultural environment.
It is also aimed at being accessible to blind and partially sighted children - we want them to be included in finding books in a library or a bookshop. It was aesthetically designed from scratch for them too
The future steps of this initiative are planned so that the book becomes multi-format with accompanying audio-book with audio description of the illustrations, an animated video with interpretation in Portuguese Sign Language for the deaf, text in pictographic symbols for the cognitive impaired and mediation manual for parents and educators.
The book, and extended initiative, is a pedagogical tool to introduce concepts about the built environment and raise awareness of the added value and power of architecture - and how it can be created, used and transformed consciously for the benefit of human dignity and thriving communities in harmony with the planet.
Architectural literacy is at the core of our purpose. As an institution with Public Utility Status, with a mission to make the general public aware of the architecture and dignity of the space we all share, the Triennale is aligned with promoting social inclusion, equality, citizenship and quality of life of the populations.
Architectural literacy
Children’s book
Tactile illustration
Accessible cultural mediation
Education for sustainable development and citizenship
“A house is a mountain is a hat” is an illustrated tactile album that aims at fostering architectural literacy from early childhood, strengthening children's natural sensitivity to the world around them.
The book intends to bring consciousness that architecture needs to be in harmony with the conditions where it’s set in; and at balance with the planets’ resources. To be sustainable, any building must adapt to its specific natural context. This varies according to geography, eg. type of soil, light, temperature, wind, humidity…
Architecture arised due to human beings’ need to protect from extreme cold or heat, through walls, a roof and shadowing . The title of the book, “A house is a mountain is a hat”, expresses this primordial relationship, between human dwelling and nature.
The industrial revolution (19th c.), and in particular the Modern movement in architecture (20th c.) - with the use of steel, glass and concrete, ventilation and heating systems in buildings -, empowered humans to live in either deserts or polar regions, as high-technology allowed us to challenge natural conditions.
However, the speed and amount of the extraction of material resources and the building industry (one of the world’s most polluting), deeply affect our planet, and contribute to the acceleration of climate change, in turn challenging our lives as we have known it for the last decades.
Mindful of the urgency of these contemporary challenges, the Triennale convenes thinkers and practitioners from all over the world to discuss and propose hypotheses to address them. In its pedagogical activities, it synthesizes the themes brought forth to make them accessible. The initiative presented here results from mediation experiences aggregated in one meaningful narrative.
In its format, design and language the book commits to a more accessible and inclusive education, making a pathway for critical thinking on sustainable development.
There are two intertwined dimensions in the aesthetics and quality of experience for people in this initiative. One concerns the content, the other the format in which it is delivered.
As promoters of architectural culture, the Triennale aspires to appeal to the imaginary world of architecture through visually beautiful, meaningful, yet challenging illustrations and a melodic narrative.
To convey the complex underlying ideas and principles in an easy language, the story was written in a haiku-like style that guided the depiction of each illustration.
We challenged publisher-studio Planeta Tangerina, whose children's albums are enjoyed by children and adults alike, to create the illustrations - also for their two main rules of “not falling for formulas" and "challenging readers (they deserve it!).”
The pages are of high-quality heavyweight paper, pleasant to the eye and touch, for good Braille and textured embossing.
The contents of this book want to cultivate creative development through multiple intelligences, central to architectural literacy, namely: spatial - understanding of the visual world with precision -, logical-mathematical - confront and evaluate objects and abstractions, and discern relationships -, and naturalistic - sensitivity to understand and organize phenomena and patterns in nature and the physical environment (Gardner, 1983).
The narrative explores aesthetic and poetic dimensions of the house. It refers to its components and basic forms recognizable in the natural landscape and human features; each house’s own "personality", the many types and styles, and the articulations orchestrated into a street, neighborhood, city and landscape.
It also explores the psychological effects of spatial design, as well as how the quality of space - comfort, scale and proportion, shape and light, materiality and texture - can change behaviors and improve coexistence and sense of belonging.
One of the key objectives of this initiative is to promote literacy in architecture that is inclusive for children who are blind or low-vision. Further steps in the initiative will make the book accessible also to children that are deaf or cognitively impaired.
The book is part of a larger strategy in contributing to an accessible and shared understanding of the spatial environment and its representations. It comprises complementary tools and actions developed in collaboration with Locus Acesso, a consultancy in cultural accessibility.
The offer of appealing books for blind or low-vision children is scarce in general, and these are rarely found in a bookstore. We decided to address this inequality and support the development of visual culture by giving access to a learning tool to read tactile images that represent the built environment.
The book also strives to build bridges between the visual codes and culture of the sighted and the inner concept of spatial and imaging of the visually impaired, creating reference points for dialogue.
Formally this is achieved by embossing high relief illustrations, overimposed to colored printing. The base illustrations were worked to be consistent with a blind person’s process of ‘reading’ and image, so they are tactile readable and appealing to the eyes and hands.
Text characters are printed in a large font (designed to be accessible for low-vision and dyslexic persons) in ink, in close correspondence with the embossed Braille.
These characteristics of the publication allow for simultaneous reading for the sighted and visually impaired. This is a noteworthy aspect of this initiative and makes this book more than just accessible, but inclusive.
Furthermore, by creating empathy with the built world, the book also directs to the sense of belonging and community that architecture provides, and to the possibilities it offers of creating unique identities, where everyone has a place.
Since 2017, the Open House Lisbon (OHL) festival, annually organized by the Triennale, features accessible tours for the blind and low vision, the deaf and the intellectually impaired in consultation with Locus Acesso. The mediation of architectural spaces to this public was instructive of the difficulty of the sighted in communicating visual cues verbally; at the same time it was insightful of the rich sensorial experience it allows.
The book initiative comes as a result of these realizations and an intuition of compatibility between target groups. In following years we combined the accessible tours for the visually and cognitive impaired with ludo-pedagogic activities for families, with incredible success and learning outcomes, which have since been a source of inspiration for other activities where audiences are brought together and inclusion is fostered.
The OHL volunteering teams receive specific training for simple audio-description, exploring tactile drawings and models, and use of adjusted and accessible speech, building a knowledge base for future mediation of the book.
From the moment the story was written we have had close cooperation from associations for the blind, low vision and their families, and from reference schools in the field of vision. Their members (children, adults, students and educators) have read the story, tested and validated the tactile illustrations. Among these are the Romeu Correia Group of Schools, Centro Helen Keller School Center and Associação Bengala Mágica. Their enthusiasm makes them ambassadors of this initiative.
To produce tactile prototypes we had the support from the municipal digital fabrication lab (FabLab Lisboa), which resulted in knowledge sharing to expand the production of affordable tactile images.
To help us achieve an affordable retail price - because this book is very expensive to produce due to the extensive embossing technique -, we ran a crowdfunding campaign that exceeded our donation expectations.
Aside from the Triennale, cultural accessibility consultant and illustrator (publisher-studio), the main stakeholders engaged in the design of the book were its most direct beneficiaries: school children and their educators, and members of associations for the blind, low vision and their families, who tested visual and tactile prototypes. Low-vision children explored the color illustrations, blind children explored the tactile, and visually impaired adults - either blind at birth or later in life, thus having some visual references - gave us feedback from their experience in tactile reading.
As a result, color contrasts, silhouettes, dimensions and overlap of elements in the illustrations were reviewed for better readability for low-vision. For the blind, we were able to reduce complexity and visual “noise” from excess information or in the relationship between the elements.
As a reference and guidance in standards to visually communicate to the blind, we have counted with the support of Hoëlle Corvest, President of DUGTA Association who, being blind herself, has advised on many (audio)tactile editions and trained over 1.000 blind persons and professionals in France.
Though not involved in the design process, but essential due to their support of the initiative and in it future implementation are the following stakeholders:
- the Directorate-General for the Arts, Ministry of Culture, through sustained grant support and monitoring to multiple initiatives of the Triennale;
- the National Plan for the Arts, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, bridging with schools for mediation activities;
- the Secretary of State for Inclusion (who happens to be blind), Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, through endorsement of the initiative and support for future actions with Institutions of Social Solidarity under its direction;
- the National Library will host the book launch public presentation and mediation activities.
The main disciplinary and knowledge fields involved in the design, development and realization of this initiative, and respective actors are:
Architecture and mediation: Lisbon Architecture Triennale.
Cultural accessibility and typhlology: Locus Acesso, a consulting platform on accessibility for Culture and Tourism that works with institutions to make their facilities, programming, communication and mediation increasingly accessible and inclusive. With over 20 years of experience, it established a work relationship with the Triennale with a rapport of mutual learning and trust with its mediation team.
Children's books and illustration: Planeta Tangerina, publisher-studio invited for its expertise and work ethics. With a large portfolio of illustrated albums, it uses smart strategies that challenge the reader with fun pedagogical approaches that support the intended simplicity, rigor and structure. It has won multiple international awards including "Best European Children's Publisher" by the International Children's Book Fair, Bologna, 2013. Many of its books are now published in Spain, France, Brazil, Korea, the United States, Mexico, Germany, Norway, Korea, Greece, Italy or Poland.
The core development was a back and forth adjustment between the subjective expressions of the built environment in the visual and artistic illustrations of Planeta Tangerina, the architectural representation normatives the Triennale reminds, and the demand for simplicity and a perspective beyond sight demanded by Locus Acesso. In this work process, and with little reference, we have had to step aside from ingrained certainties and assumptions derived from each own expertise, in multiple exercises of humbleness and the enjoyment to recognize the added value from the others’ perspective and knowledge.
We have had the indefatigable support of the graphic printer Maiadouro in achieving high standards for the embossing of the tactile illustrations.
Since we started this project in 2018, we have seen a development in the release of tactile illustration and multi-format books for children with sensory and cognitive disabilities. This makes us proud to be part of a growing concern and address of this lack of representation. However it is still the case that a majority of these initiatives are either for very young children and toddlers, an adaptation of already existing children’s books (often with only the text in braille and limited number of tactile illustrations), not fully multi-format, with a limited scale of production (many are hand-made), little or none distribution in bookstores and very expensive. All of these are limitations that our initiative also aims to overcome. We want this book to be truly inclusive in its multiple overlapping forms, affordable and well present in bookshop shelves with a run of 1500 copies.
As far as our research has taken us, this is the first book of this kind that is focused on architecture through artistic, poetic and experimental illustration and not only simplified or diagrammatic drawings (orthogonal projection), expanding the lexic of shared codes of reference to the visual culture of the blind and low-vision and thus expanding also their capabilities of imagination, but figuratively and allegorically.
The most distinctive aspect of innovation in our initiative is that the illustrations were conceived with the concern of tactile reading from the onset. It has been a demanding process and a long time devoted to achieving the level of clarity in readily identifiable figures and tactile elements, while accomplishing an illustrated album that is appealing - and challenging - to children who are sighted, partially sighted or blind alike.
https://ppl.pt/en/causas/trienaldelisboa
The full initiative may be replicated to the same target groups in other places, expanding local impact, reaching regional, national, European and planetary level. The book itself is made to be easily and universally adapted.
To other places
The book pages are layed out so that text and illustrations are on separate pages, which makes publication in other languages to be affordable as the tactile illustration matrices that make the initial production costly do not need to be replicated. The narrative and illustrations consider archetypal representations of built elements, that in any of its contextual idiosyncratic realities (including where it originates from) require mediation, just like any children's books.
Other groups of beneficiaries
It is part of the initiative to make the book into a multi-format and thus include audiences with other sensory or cognitive disabilities. Also there are a number of secondary beneficiaries to consider such as special needs, formal non-formal educators, cultural mediators or the blind parents or family members that will be able to read a book with their sighted children.
Other contexts
This book is also an instrument for the education of braille for the normo-visual and as reference of quality standards to the production of tactile illustration.
The Triennale’s education department conceives and implements mediation activities transversally to the programming of the institution, encompassing a broad spectrum of publics and in a logic of lifelong learning.
Our team is composed of professionals in the field of architecture with experience in education, cultural mediation and scientific research that ‘translate’ the multiple curatorial approaches brought forth to the public, creating narratives that resonate with their conditions and context.
Following the methodology to create illustrated albums, we produced a story, systematizing a circular narrative around the ‘house’ as a base unit of architecture. From form and the relation between the abstraction of geometry and natural elements, signifying meanings of figures and composition, sustainable settlement and advantageous orientation towards the elements, structure and construction materiality, elements of space, technical systems involved in the affordance of dignified living conditions that are linked to larger infrastructures, scale of neighborhood and city, diversity in dwelling in planetary adaptation to geography, to the imagination and creative expression of the built environment.
Artistic visual illustrations were produced to depict the poetic texts, and ‘deconstructed’ in its base to answer the characteristics of tactile reading. Step by step, with testing with the target audience quality assurance.
Formal aspects of the book’s accessible characteristics are the options of the A4 landscape format for the image surface to be better “read” by both hands, and the pages are bound with a double metal spiral on the spine for easy handling.
Given the challenge to address multiple diversity of a target group with special needs, from early on we set to address each sensory and cognitive impairment in multiple steps, starting with vision as it is the most affected directed sense in spatial experience. Next steps will be to complete a multi-format book.
According to the World Health Organization, globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. 1 billion includes those with moderate or severe distance vision impairment or blindness.
As blindness affects an increasing proportion of the global population, it is necessary for architecture and spatial design to address the issues it raises in order to provide a comfortable and safe environment for those living with it.
The initiative behind “A house is a mountain is a hat” is not so much about providing a local solution to a global problem, as it is equipping a group of people affected by a sensory impairment with universal references to visual representation codes of the built environment. It is a pedagogical tool to promote the knowledge of a shared language and narrative - architectural literacy - from an early age. In time, it will enable them to dialogue with the practitioners and policy makers and give them agency in the plan and decisions for their cities and neighborhoods, wherever they are.
Raising environmental awareness and a transition to sustainable development in the built environment is, in itself, a global challenge.
It is an ambition of this initiative to engage schools, formal and non-formal education institutions and governance to recognize the added value of education through architecture.
The children’s book, augmented with mediation guidelines, provides opportunities for integrating architectural education transversally in the curricula with active and project based learning strategies, taking advantage of a global reflection and debate in education systems about the paradigms of education.
We have defined 3 stages for this initiative, in terms of its development, implementation and dissemination.
The first stage includes the actual launch of the publication for distribution. The target date for the launch is the spring, taking advantage of the National Book Fairs in Lisbon and Oporto. Following this, we will host a debate including specialists in the fields of Children's and Youth Literature, illustration for children, multi-format books for people with disabilities, special needs education for visually impaired children, architecture for the blind (portuguese blind architect) and tactile reading, in parallel with a workshop in tactile illustration reading by blind specialist Hoëlle Corvest, to push for the streamline in production of tactile illustration in a national level.
The second stage of development is to augment the book to its multi-format, following a participatory format with the primary beneficiaries of this initiative, in partnership with public and private institutions of social solidarity whose missions are to promote the rights and protection of children at risk of exclusion and with special educational needs. For the triennium we will address deafness with portuguese sign language interpretation and video capture (2023); we will continue to address blindness with an audiobook with audio-description of the illustrations (2024); and last, but not least, with the interpretation of the text in pictograms for children with cognitive impairment (2025).
The third stage will be internationalization. Through protocols with entities whose mission is similar to the Triennale, the book will be published in different languages. The Triennale is part of several international platforms and has an extensive list of partners with whom these protocols may be realized.
To help the mediation of this book, we are starting a series of workshops to develop a glossary that follows the architectural elements and concepts explored in the book.
The Triennales education department works on the awareness that architecture is an element of cohesion, which conditions or strengthens our experiences. With challenges and educational tools, we seek to stimulate critical thinking, empower creative expression and promote active participation in the construction of a dignified, sustainable and accessible built environment for everyone.
The contents of the multi-format book can be extended and further explored through mediation actions in schools or any other particular context, promoting direct exchange and debate. It provides knowledge so that children may learn from an early age to think and design with a greater ecological and sustainable conscience, think in terms of preservation, lifecycles and regeneration, propose new models and pass such contents on to their relatives and families, contributing therefore to create a more just society for present and future generations.
It is an objective that this book will be integrated in the school curricula as a mediation tool to multiple subjects in an interdisciplinary perspective. Just like architecture as a discipline encompasses interdisciplinary knowledge transversally addressed in systematic and critical thinking. Each page explores a central subject, and points to the relations between them. Timeless subjects but contemporary ones as well. It stimulates debate and collective reflection. New pages, stories and subjects can be added to the book in the classroom. It is, on the one hand, a finished object, autonomous, but to which can be added content and be part of a collective informal work-in-progress.
