Wood Snoezelen. Ambienti multisensoriali in legno per la cura e la riabilitazione di persone con disabilità intellettive = Wood Snoezelen. Multisensory Wooden Environments for the Care and Rehabilitation of People with Intellectual Disabilities

The paper wants to present the result of a research project, funded by Università Iuav di Venezia and Consorzio Legno Veneto, focused on the study and design of a “Snoezelen” room built with wooden components. “Snoezelen” refers to closed environments equipped with multisensory instrumentation to stimulate the senses of people with intellectual disabilities and non-self-sufficiency through the help of an experienced therapist. The design of environments for caring and rehabilitation requires an appropriate choice of building technologies: recent studies have shown that wood is an ideal material for the design of environments for non-self-sufficient people and people with autism spectrum disorders; the use of wood as a building material could be therefore considered as optimal for the design of Snoezelen environments. The increase and diffusion of these environments, especially in schools, could lead to an increase both in the number of students who can undertake a rehabilitation process and in the sensory-perceptive aids available to the school. The goal of the research was the design of a wooden Snoezelen environment, supported by guidelines for its implementation and an evaluation schedule for its use. In particular, the environment was designed by applying construction techniques in wood as a material for cladding, finishing, and interior components. The first example of Wood Snoezelen is currently being built in a Veneto primary school.