Located on a small satellite campus in rural Missouri, the new Neurodiversity and Autism Center is home to Missouri State University - West Plains’ innovative ASCEND Program (Autism Support Can Empower New Directions) and represents an opportunity for historically underserved students to integrate into higher education campus life and obtain a degree.
Previously located in the basement of one of the campus’s scattered buildings, the program is now located in a dedicated facility that reflects and celebrates the importance of the program’s mission. Its prominent position on campus not only makes a statement about the university’s commitment to higher education for all, it also helps define a green quadrangle that will become the future heart of campus.
The building’s formal expression is inspired by the multidimensional understanding of the neurodiverse and autistic experience, and its material pallet is derived from both campus context and textured sensory surfaces that are often used to provide tactile stimulus for autistic individuals.
As a home base for the campus’ neurodiverse and autistic students, the facility provides resources and support in the form of learning space, meeting space, support space, and a range of sensory sensitive spaces and amenities, including decompression rooms where students can take a private moment to reset after experiencing overstimulation. The new facility also houses faculty advisors, life skills training spaces, and a teaching lab used to train future special education teachers. The entire facility is purposefully organized to integrate neurodiverse space planning and design strategies, with an unambiguous layout, a purposeful breakdown in the scales of spaces, intuitive transitions and wayfinding, and integrated accommodations that support various levels of sensory sensitives and ways of communication.
