What Designing for The Maryland School for the Blind Meant to BKM’s Sean MacCubbin

Members of BKM’s staff were proud to attend a recent ceremony at The Maryland School for the Blind (MSB) for the ribbon cutting of the Autism-Blind Residences & Learning Center and the ground breaking of the Preschool Early Learning and Outreach Renovation. BKM provided specialized m/e/p services for both projects. We sat down with the projects’ Lead Mechanical Engineer, Sean MacCubbin, to discuss what these projects meant to him:

“I always take a lot of pride and care for the projects I work on. I have an opportunity to work on a lot of types of projects, but I prefer designing for educational spaces. There is something more special about designing spaces that truly help people and aid the learning process. These projects really spoke to me.

We had to account for so many other factors compared to typical K-12 settings, such as mechanical equipment layout and how it could affect airflow and noise. The students of MSB are more in touch with various senses, so it’s our job as the designers to minimize distractions to their learning and living environments.

To gain knowledge on accommodating these unique challenges, it required a lot of research on my part. We worked in synch with both architects. BKM was in constant communication with MSB to run our ideas by them. We had meetings more frequently than the average project requires.

At the end of the day, I love helping people, solving problems, and creating things. I had a special connection to these projects. My significant other’s daughter is disabled and needs care on a daily basis. My friend’s child, who I coached in soccer, also has autism. Through my work, I designed on the basis of providing comfortability, ensuring MSB’s students would have facilities customized for their needs, and contributing to their MSB experience.

It’s personally rewarding to me to have been a part of these projects. One of my best friends also started working as MSB’s IT tech during at the same time the projects were underway, so I feel a sense of community.”