When implementing policies for inclusive education and employment of autistic people, it is important to reevaluate the environment and the interaction between different neurotypes. The KUKUBU project has a goal to understand the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the worldview and perspective of an autistic person. It is done through observation and interviews of individuals, as well as virtual communities of autistic people. After formulating good design criteria and taking into account the characteristics of an autistic person’s thinking, communication, and sensory systems, the KUKUBU space was designed to communicate and rest, introducing neurotypical children to the world of their neurodiverse peers. The KUKUBU space could become a bridge establishing contact with an autistic child. The KUKUBU prototype consists of wooden cubes covered with elastic fabric, designed to hide or connect into closed structures for communication — not through verbal or body language, but through shared sensory experiences.
Gaudutė Žilytė is a researcher, product and furniture designer. She is currently conducting human neurodiversity research and developing tools to help different neurotypes communicate with each other. From her point of view, ASD is a sociocultural construct that determines the neurodiverse person’s place in society. During the research, the designer considers an autistic person not as someone disturbed, but as an individual with a neurodivergent identity. The goal is to discover and create new ways of collaboration and communication by imagining what kind of world an autistic society would construct.