BEYOND WALLS: Enabling Semi-Independent Living for Individuals on the Spectrum

Moving out of home is a significant milestone in one’s life. However, this milestone can cause immense anxiety for those living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The unemployment rate for people with ASD is disproportionally high. Coupled with difficulties meeting funding requirements and an inaccessible housing market, this rate can make it extremely difficult for adults with ASD to find suitable housing options. Whilst people with ASD may be eligible to use public and community housing services, the sector currently lacks accessible housing, leaving families wondering what is going to happen when they can no longer care for their child or sibling on the spectrum.

As part of the MBIE-funded Public Housing and Urban Regeneration: Maximising Wellbeing research programme (PHUR) and in partnership with Te Toi Mahana (TTM), this thesis explores how the design of future public and community housing can help enable semi-independent living for people with ASD. Beyond Walls seeks to provide potential pathways forward for those on the spectrum, their families, and housing providers by exploring architectural interventions such as apartment planning, materiality, colour, lighting design, acoustic performance, and external environment design in relation to the lived experiences and needs of those with ASD. By extension, this project may help inform the design of private housing.

This thesis aims to help facilitate semi-independent living for individuals with ASD who may be deemed ‘mid-high’ functioning, or whose needs are often overlooked, by developing a speculative design and related framework for public or community housing design. The speculative design and related framework are informed by literature reviews, case studies, and data collected through a photo elicitation study and follow-up interviews with people diagnosed with ASD. These guidelines are then tested and refined through the speculative redesign of an existing TTM public housing site awaiting upgrades on Daniell Street in Newtown, Wellington. This speculative redevelopment explores new design approaches to the provision of public housing, including shared and community spaces.