Education Facility for Visually Impaired Children

The Anchor Center for Blind Children is a school built specifically to support the needs of blind and partially sighted children from birth to five years old. Given the Anchor Center’s mission to provide meaningful education experiences, it was important that the school itself be bursting with learning opportunities and sensory experiences.

As children with visual impairments tend to be sensitive to light and can perceive color, classrooms feature appropriate colored and textured walls to benefit “way finding.” Outside, a cane walk features wood, flagstone, and pavers to help students experience different textures. A sensory garden with bridges, waterfalls, and playgrounds offer safe places for climbing and riding tricycles. Concrete paths feature progressively closer control joints to give children a sense of approaching the front door. Several times during the building’s construction, the Fransen Pittman team provided site tours to Anchor Center students to help give a sense of the project’s progress.