The Hilton Building at the Perkins School for the Blind is the educational home for Perkins’s Deafblind program, as well as the Low-Vison Clinic. Students entering and leaving the building use a variety of mobility aids and have some degree of sensory loss. LEMON BROOKE worked with MDS Architects to reimagine the 1960s era building entry in way that would improve the functionality of the interior, including the addition of an elevator, as well as offer a more accessible and inclusive strategy for the exterior.

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The design incorporates a drop-off/pick-up area and a new, wide, concrete pedestrian ramp that wraps around a rain garden. The raised garden is at waist height and handles all of the storm water runoff from the new overhead canopy, irrigating a plant palette that is intentionally fragrant. Grooves cut into the concrete landings and a rain chain that channels roof water to a rock filled basin fill out the sensory feedback opportunities built into the route.

 

 

CREDITS:

Client:                                        Perkins School for the Blind

Architect:                                  Miller Dyer Spears Architects

Landscape Contractor:          Bonadio and Sons       

Year Completed:                     2019