Heritage Accessibility and Valorization. Tactile Maps for a more inclusive University

The present contribution describes two projects of tactile maps developed by a research team of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Pavia. These tactile maps have the aim to help people with visual impairments in using and enjoying two of the main buildings of the Università of Pavia: Palazzo Centrale, with the Department of Political and Social Sciences, the Department of Law and the most important administrative offices including the Rectorate, and the Museum of Electrical Technology (MTE), one of the main museums of the University of Pavia, containing the stages of the discovery and exploitation of electricity, from the production to the distribution and use. These two examples of good practices are chosen among several projects developed at the University of Pavia for its heritage: the team coordinated by prof. Alessandro Greco has been working on accessibility and usability since 2006, with experiences of research, design and training activities, on both buildings and urban spaces. After a normative and conceptual framework about disability and accessibility in architecture, deepening the issue in the particular case of historical and cultural heritage, the two projects of tactile maps are explained in detail, focusing also on the different contexts and adopted technologies for the realizations: aluminum in mold from specific matrices for the tactile maps at Palazzo Centrale, 3D printing technology for the tactile map at the Museum of Electrical Technology.