Client: High Museum of Art

Overview

Outside the Lines is an immersive maze of sensory environments, commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta for the outdoor Sifly Plaza. The project emerged from conversations with self-advocates with disabilities and their allies throughout Atlanta, with the goal of creating a space that celebrates a range of sensory experiences.

Goals

Tactile materials with varied textures invite exploratory navigation, discovery, and play. The gently curving steel structure supports thousands of hanging strands along the rise and fall of the frame. The forest-like atmosphere was designed in collaboration with individuals who are blind and visually impaired to invite dynamic navigation through touch. The variety and height of the materials provide a spectrum of experience within reach of everyone, and produce a range of intensity and stimulation, offering choice for neurodiverse people with sensory sensitivities. The structure forms small enclosures with nets for quiet relaxation, as well as open environments with platforms for active exploration and social play.

Process

The project grew from conversations with self-advocates and advocates from the Marcus Autism Center, the Center for the Visually Impaired, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, and Parent to Parent of Georgia to create a space that would be playful and inclusive for everyone.