Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a teaching model involving an experimental studio project for first-year interior architecture university students. Design/methodology/approach Content, process, teaching style and feedback are examined in a project, run over five years, concerning transitioning between environments for people with autism in an attempt to advance design of autism schools. Research methodology, teaching model, outcomes and group dynamics are critiqued. Findings Feedback from experienced autism-specific teachers across eight case study schools raise recurring issues framing a series of design problems navigated by students. The teaching model enhances student exploration of how sensory processing difficulties, through spatial transitioning strategies, might be approached, whilst furthering their specialist knowledge as future designers of inclusive spaces. Research limitations/implications Each transitioning platform requires deeper research to form a realistic interior typology. A further project to install and evaluate specific “transitioning insertions” into circulation spaces of an autism school is proposed for future research. Practical implications The identification of this teaching model illustrates how to embed design for autism in the university curriculum. Social implications The project brief helps address the National Autistic Society’s public autism awareness campaign “Too Much Information” highlighting anxieties that “unexpected change” causes. Effective design of transitioning spaces can help people with autism to cope with their environment, reducing behaviours and improving learning. Originality/value The creation of the “Co-specialist ASD-educator model” will be of value to universities. “Ten Spatial Transitioning Platforms” were uncovered relating to Transitions. This will be of importance to autism researchers and eventually design practitioners.

Universities and design schools have a responsibility to ensure that the education of future designers enables design for special populations, in this case specifically children with autism. This paper presents a case study of an autism defined experimental teaching-led design project, within a first-year university Interior Architecture course, on which the author is a tutor. It draws on the author’s extensive working knowledge of autism issues, incorporating mediation between SEN schools and design students, and employing research informed teaching. The project involves a new local free school for autism, at a temporary site. The experiment is designed to challenge students, emphasising the importance of understanding how primary research, accessed directly from the end users, informs progressive design thinking. It attempts to influence their design work in subsequent years at university and in practice, and facilitate bridging the gap between academic research and real-life application. This paper seeks to identify how an autism defined project, focussed on student-centred learning and encompassing choosing sessions with children with ASD, can be taught in the first year of undergraduate study. Further, it aims to analyse how the teaching styles and content of a partially ‘live’ community design project impact on the participants. This is achieved by describing the details and challenges of the project together with the interactions between the students and the school. It concludes that the project adds value to the student experience, builds student confidence and eliminates pre-conceived ideas surrounding autism. It shows that design can be an interactive process between university and special schools. Equally, the pitfalls of a live project of this nature are highlighted, as is the need for modification before similar projects are reproducible as viable educational models.

PurposeThe study aims to evaluate: (1) How university students from interior architecture can create a forward-looking “Sensory Living” brief informed by both external autism experts and a specialist tutor, evidenced through Leeds City Council's live autism adult accommodation project. (2) Issues involved with moving an experimental studio teaching model online during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory approach informs an innovative teaching model, run over two years, to create a better normal; challenges and opportunities are critiqued.FindingsFeedback from experienced autism-specific experts raises recurring sensory and communication issues which frame a series of design problems to help inform the student briefs. Students learn that the designer as advocate for vulnerable users is imperative. Aspects of online teaching that can benefit an experimental studio teaching model are identified.Practical implicationsIdentification of the responsive “Sensory Living Model” illustrates (1) How local authorities can avoid seclusion and integrate meaningful “continuous learning opportunities” into autism-friendly adult accommodation for post-pandemic health and wellbeing. (2) How to embed autism-friendly design in the university curriculum.Social implicationsThe study helps address some of the UK Government's “National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026”.Originality/value“Ten Novel Sensory Living Themes” are uncovered to help inform the design of autism-friendly adult accommodation. These are of value to (1) local authorities and design practitioners in formulating design briefs and (2) universities in educating future designers of inclusive spaces.