Casa del Sole, in Curtatone in the province of Mantua, is one of the first organisations to welcome SENSEi. Here the magic room serves two worlds at once, rehabilitation and school, for children and young people with disabilities. It is proof that a multisensory environment can grow over the years together with the people who use it.
The context: a centre between care and education
Casa del Sole is an educational and rehabilitation centre for children and young people with disabilities, with a special school and rehabilitation services. Therapists and teachers share the same spaces and often the same children.
The challenge is therefore twofold: the room must work both for therapy and for teaching activities, without becoming two different environments.
The project: designing with the people who use it
The process combines the design of the space, co-design with the staff, installation and training. The activities are conceived together with educators and therapists, starting from the children’s needs.
The result is a space that responds to the body: the images on the wall and floor follow the children’s movements, while lights and bubbles react to their actions. The educator controls everything from a tablet.
A room that grows over time
Years later the process starts again, to update software and activities and to enrich the room with new forms of interaction: touch on the wall and work with the feet on the floor. The projection is also renewed.
The organisation says it is “absolutely interested in completing the process in order to achieve an effective and appropriate use of the room”.
How is it used across therapy and school?
In the same room, the activities and goals change, not the environment:
- in rehabilitation, the body and movement become the way to interact with what is seen and heard;
- in teaching, the room can turn into a scenario for learning by doing, together with classmates;
- with the new interactions, touching the wall or moving the feet on the floor opens different paths depending on each person’s abilities.
The link with research
Casa del Sole is one of the first places where research from Politecnico di Milano leaves the laboratory and enters the daily life of a centre. The starting point is the Magic Room, a smart space for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Here the SENSEi research group finds in the field an idea that runs through many of its more than 40 scientific papers: we also learn with the body. It is the thread that links therapy and school, explored in depth in Embodied Learning in Immersive Smart Spaces.
What changes
- A single environment serving rehabilitation and teaching;
- A long relationship, dating back to SENSEi’s first steps;
- Updates without rebuilding the room: new activities, new interactions, new training;
- A bridge between care and teaching: the same room hosts rehabilitation and educational goals, often with the same children.
Why is this a significant case?
Casa del Sole shows the value of a room that grows over time. An environment created for rehabilitation can also become a teaching space, provided that software, activities and training are updated together with the people who use it. Discover SENSEi CARE, SENSEi EDU and the guide to the multisensory room for children.
Frequently asked questions
Can the same room be used for therapy and school?
Yes. The activities and goals change, not the environment.
Can a room installed years ago be updated?
Yes: software, activities and new interactions can be added without rebuilding the room.
Who uses the room at Casa del Sole?
Therapists and teachers, with children and young people with disabilities supported both in the rehabilitation services and in the centre’s special school.
How much does an environment like this cost?
It depends on the configuration: space, experiences, training and services. Contact us for an assessment.
Do you work in a school, a centre or a museum and want an environment like this? Tell us about your project: we start from the needs of the people who will use it.
Sources
In the press
- Stanza Sensei, Casa del Sole
