An architect and designer's perspective

The Riji pearl shell ornament is a beautiful and fragile shell that shows both the glittering inside and intricate carvings. It tells us about the life of First Nations peoples in Australia who lived at and from the sea. The shell also highlights a problem we are currently researching: the accessibility of museum artefacts for blind and low vision audiences. Museums provide access to a rich array of artworks, artefacts and specimens through their collections and exhibitions. To ensure their preservation, these usually cannot be touched and so do not exist for blind and low vision people (BLV). The Object based learning section program of the Chau Chak Wing Museum (CCWM), where audiences can touch specimen in a supervised museum environment may offer a solution. Other solutions are 3D printing and assistive technologies like braille displays, tactile graphics, laser-cut layered graphics, 3D printed models, and soundscapes can provide alternative forms of access for BLV audiences to museum content. 

The pearl shell resonates with an Abalone shell we scanned. Our research explores 3-D printed replicas as a handling surrogate, and this solution allows BLV visitors to engage tactually with museum content while minimizing risk for the fragile and precious specimen of collections such as the Natural History collection at the CCWM. 3D scans are a new form of access, and some museums are currently digitising their collections and offer websites with interactive 3D models, which people from all over the world can access. Together with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Media Lab, we have scanned natural specimens that are similar in geometry, material and expression, such as the abalone shell. The scan gives us a dataset that can be 3D printed in SLA resin; a replica that can be touched and discussed with BLV audiences. This project brings together expertise from The School of Architecture, Design and Planning (ADP), The CCWM , and the NSW institute for Blind and Low vision education Nextsense, and in international collaboration, the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen (Denmark) and IBOS (Institute for Blind). 

We are also exploring how 3D data can be shared with a larger audience. The CCWM digital museum database is a way of visiting the museum from afar. For our research into the museum of touch, we have created a database and platform on sketchfab where everyone can download natural specimens and 3D print them at home. 

Museum for Touch: A digital Platform for BLV 

The “Museum for Touch-Understanding Museum Exhibits through Touch ( Towards Object Based Learning and Universal Access for Blind and Low Vision Children and Adults)” is a research project by A/Prof Dagmar Reinhardt (The University of Sydney), Dr Jane Thogersen and Dr Eve Guerry (CCWM), Leona Holloway (Monash University), in collaboration with the Health Media Lab, USyd, Nextsense Australia and IBOS Denmark. Supported by the Alastair Swayn Foundation, International Research Grant, Round Two, 2022 Grant ID: INT004. Scans The Faculty of Medicine and Health Media Lab (Prof Philipp Poronnik, Claudio Andres Corvalan Diaz,William Havellas), The University of Sydney. 

Link to the Online data

Link to Abalone shell with top growth

Associate Professor Dr Dagmar Reinhardt teaches architectural design at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney. Her research explores design at the intersection of architecture, body, space and the senses, by integration of advanced data retrieval and fabrication methods, including photogrammetry and robotics. Dagmar designs touch access strategies for blind and low vision people in research for accessible playgrounds and a museum for touch in collaboration with Nextsense, Monash University, Macquarie University and the Chau Chak Wing Museum.