Landscape Architecture Planning Proposal for Visually Impaired in Cluj-Napoca

摘要

The five senses of the human body (sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing) were integrated in the landscape architecture planning aimed to improve the life quality of over 200 youngsters who suffer of visual impairment by redesigning the green space of the local educational institution they attend. Inside of this learning institution located downtown, it is proposed to design a green space applying the principles of horticultural therapy to create a sensory garden. Based on the five senses, this type of outdoor therapy provides distinct opportunities to experience a variety of stimuli, giving a detailed perception of the environment, helping also visually impaired people to develop and improve their own spatial orientation capacity. The purpose of the overall design is to maximize the intensity of the interaction with the plant material in the garden by combining a variety of plant species with different striking characteristics like texture, scent and color. The pathways through the garden are sensory designed to guide the visually impaired person in their way using texture changes to indicate change in direction. The design of the sensory garden does not keep into account only the aesthetics, but the therapeutic aspects as well.