Case study · Sendai · Miyagi · Japan

Every door of the centre, announced by voice.

The 宮城県視覚障害者情報センター (Miyagi Information Center for the Visually Impaired), reopened in its new building in October 2023 in Sendai, has tagged its main rooms and the lift with NaviLens GO. Blind and low-vision people know what's behind each door before opening it.

Lift lobby on the 2F of the Miyagi Information Center for the Visually Impaired in Sendai: grey lift doors set into a white wall, with a large green «2» painted to the right; above the stainless-steel call panel and next to the wheelchair button, an A4 sign with the NaviLens GO code in cyan, magenta and yellow on black; tubular blue handrails on both sides, yellow vinyl floor and a black non-slip mat in front of the lift

Oct 2023

Opening of the new building

Sendai

Taihaku Ward · Miyagi

NaviLens GO

Compatible reader app

Audiences

Studio, consultation, training, equipment

The centre

宮城県視覚障害者情報センター

The Miyagi Information Center for the Visually Impaired is the public institution of Miyagi Prefecture serving blind and low-vision people: a braille and audiobook library, consultation room, training of transcription and narration volunteers, and an assistive-products display.

The new building opened on 1 October 2023 in Taihaku Ward (Sendai), after a refit led by the 宮城県視覚障害者福祉協会. The previous premises had aging issues, no lift and accessibility fixes added after the fact. The new facility was designed from scratch with universal accessibility in mind.

On top of that architectural accessibility, the centre has rolled out NaviLens GO as a digital layer: codes next to each room's tactile plate and next to the lift call panel.

§ How the rollout was designed

A code next to every tactile plate.

01
A tag next to every door
Each room carries its Japanese tactile plate with the name («スタジオ», «相談室», «研修室», «機器展示室») and, just below, a NaviLens GO code printed at A4. The phone camera reads it from several metres away and announces by voice what lies behind the door before you touch the handle.
02
Accessible lift: floor and direction by voice
The code next to the 2F lift call panel lets users confirm which floor they're on and find the area reserved for people with reduced mobility without relying only on the numeric display.
03
A digital layer on top of an already accessible building
The new building was refurbished to fix historical issues of the previous site —no lift and after-the-fact accessibility patches. NaviLens adds a 42-language spoken layer on top of the architectural accessibility, for blind and low-vision users and visitors.

§ Room by room

From the recording studio to the equipment room.

Almost-black dark-blue swing door of the recording studio («スタジオ»): vertical metal pull handle with lock, vertical rectangular peephole and, above the lintel, a red illuminated «使用中» (in use) sign; to the right of the door, a black tactile plate with white «スタジオ» text and, just below, an A4 sign with the NaviLens GO code in cyan, magenta and yellow on black; blue handrails on both sides of the yellow vinyl corridor

Half-open door of the consultation room («相談室»): inside, a small grey table with teal chairs and a dark acoustic panel folded against the wall, next to a window with a Venetian blind; to the right of the door, a black tactile plate with white «相談室» text and braille at the bottom, and below it a NaviLens GO sign with a cyan, magenta and yellow code on black; grey waist-high skirting

Open dark sliding door of the training room («研修室»): inside, rows of folding tables with stackable chairs and, at the back, a wall of cabinets with white glass display windows; on the right wall, a black tactile plate with white «研修室» text and, below, an A4 sign with the NaviLens GO code in cyan, magenta and yellow on black; tubular blue handrail and yellow vinyl floor

Half-open dark sliding door of the equipment display room («機器展示室»): inside, a long white desk with blue office chairs and, on the desk, assistive devices for visually impaired people —braille printer, electronic magnifier with light ring, microwave, assistive-tech products—; on the right wall, a black tactile plate with «機器展示室» and, below, the A4 sign of the NaviLens GO code; on the wall, a hanging poster with the braille chart «点字のあいうえお»; yellow floor with a green mat

§ Why it matters

The information centre itself practises what it preaches.

Coherence

The institution that advises blind people across the whole prefecture on assistive products and technologies is now also a building you can navigate by listening, not by asking.

First visit

Anyone visiting the centre for the first time —user, family member, trainee volunteer— can locate the recording studio, the consultation room or the equipment room by voice, without an escort.

JP model

It serves as a reference for the other information centres for visually impaired people in Japan: same tactile signage, same NaviLens layer on top.

§ And your headquarters?