Jo Haas and Cynthia Torp join us to discuss their collaboration on The Dot Experience, the American Printing House for the Blind’s (APH) reimagined museum set to open in Louisville in October 2026. Designed around an unprecedented commitment to inclusive design, The Dot Experience aims to set a new global standard for accessibility in museums. Named in homage to the six-dot system of Braille, The Dot Experience is about changing perspectives. Through powerful personal stories, hands-on interactive experiences, and innovations shaped by blind and low-vision collaborators including archival material from Helen Keller, the museum invites visitors to rethink accessibility and consider how each of us can help create a more inclusive world. Jo Haas is Vice President of Advancement for The Dot Experience, where she is leading the team that will reshape the public’s understanding of blindness and disability through immersive, tactile learning. Her work reflects a career-long commitment to creativity, collaboration, and redefining inclusion in practice. Cynthia Torp is the sole owner of Solid Light and has supervised the creation of unforgettable visitor experiences for museums, corporations, non-profits, universities, and visitor centers for over 40 years. Her expertise in storytelling coupled with her mastery of design and fabrication have helped her make an indelible mark on the museum and cultural world. We talk about: - We unpack the meaning of “nothing about us, without us” and how the project team reworked traditional project management to support inclusive reviews from blind and low-vision stakeholders. Cynthia shares how prototyping and focus groups continuously challenged the team’s design assumptions. - Jo walks us through the creation of tactile replicas of archival objects, revealing how user feedback reshaped scale, detail, and mounting to produce touch-based experiences that are durable while being intuitive, dignified, and deeply meaningful. - We dive deep into the design systems behind the museum, exploring how Solid Light balanced redundancy through tactile graphics, Braille, audio narration, QR codes, ASL, captions, visual descriptions, along with architectural tools like flooring, wayfinding, tactile maps, and high contrast graphics. - The episode challenges architects and designers to rethink accessibility and sets The Dot Experience as a precedent for inclusive museum and exhibit design. >>> Connect with Jo and Cynthia of The Dot Experience: The Dot Experience Website: https://thedotexperience.org/ Solid Light Website: https://solidlight-inc.com/work/american-printing-house-for-the-blind/ American Printing House for the Blind LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-printing-house-for-the-blind/ KET’s News WAVE 3 News Spectrum News 1 Museum Magazine >>> Thank you to our Sponsor: Arcol is a collaborative building design tool built for modern teams. Arcol streamlines your design process by keeping your model, data, and presentations in sync- enabling your team to work together seamlessly. Learn more about Arcol on their Website, Instagram, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn. >>> Connect with Architectette: - Website: www.architectette.com (Learn more) - Instagram: @architectette (See more) - Newsletter: www.architectette.com/newsletter (Behind the Scenes Content) - LinkedIn: The Architectette Podcast Page and/or Caitlin Brady >>> Support Architectette: - Leave us a rating and review! >>> Music by AlexGrohl from Pixabay.
