LightHouse is a non-profit organisation which promotes the equality and self-reliance of blind or visually impaired people through training and advocacy. It is one of the oldest social-services organisations in California. Mark Cavagnero Associates worked alongside Consultant Architect, Chris Downey, who is one of the world’s only blind practising architects, to design the organisations new headquarters in San Francisco. The LightHouse project spans 3 floors of a high rise building in downtown San Francisco and included training rooms for hands-on teaching of braille and adaptive technologies, a training kitchen, AV recording facilities and 11 bedrooms to provide accommodation for clients enrolled in their immersive training programmes.

In designing The Lighthouse, Mark Cavagnero Associates followed best universal design practice. Every element of the architectural design has a tactile, acoustic and visual function. The floor materials, for example, change to indicate the location: corridors are concrete, stairs are wooden, and social spaces, such as the reception area, are carpeted. Each surface looks, feels and sounds different when walked on or tapped with a cane, helping visitors to navigate the space.

This tactile embossed and printed architectural plan was used during the design consultation process for The LightHouse. It is embossed with braille and printed with ink enabling blind, visually impaired and sighted alike to access the same information from one representation.