Case study · Silla · Valencian Community
Twelve totems that tell Silla to everyone.
The Ajuntament de Silla installed 12 corten-steel lecterns in the town's heritage buildings (Market, Church, Casa Palau, Station, Port, modernista houses…) combining in a single piece bilingual text, braille, ARASAAC pictograms and a NaviLens code. Any visitor —blind, autistic, in a wheelchair or not speaking the local language— can find out what they are looking at.
12
Totems installed in heritage buildings and key sites of Silla
4 layers
Spanish + Valencian text · braille · ARASAAC pictograms · NaviLens
Corten steel
Lecterns at wheelchair-accessible height
Next Generation
Project funded by EU Funds · Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism
The client
Ajuntament de Silla
Valencian Community · L'Horta Sud
Silla is a town in the L'Horta Sud region of the Valencian Community, with heritage that ranges from the Muslim tower to several modernista houses, including the Municipal Market, the Church of the Virgin of the Angels and the Casa Palau.
In 2023 the Council launched an inclusive tourism programme: a network of 12 totems of tourist information co-funded with Next Generation EU Funds through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, with a single premise: that the content of each lectern reaches any visitor, regardless of disability, age or language.
§ The solution
Four layers of information in one piece.
Each totem combines the same four layers, in the same order: Valencian and Spanish text on a golden metal plate for sighted readers; the same information in braille for blind people fluent in braille; ARASAAC pictograms for autistic people, those with communication difficulties or early readers; and the NaviLens code that reads the content aloud in the visitor's language, from several metres away.
The lecterns sit at wheelchair-accessible height; corten steel ensures outdoor durability; and the ARASAAC pictograms align Silla with the methodology that Visit València uses for its cognitively accessible tourist map.
§ Walk-through
From the station to the port, told in four languages.
Municipal Market · Orange wall
“You are in front of the Silla Municipal Market”
Built in 1973 and modernised in 2022 with Next Generation funds. A blind person approaching the building scans the NaviLens code and the app announces the market's name and a short history, in their language, without having to touch the metal plate.
Detail · Braille + ARASAAC + NaviLens
“MUSEU · TORRE MUSULMANA”
ARASAAC pictograms work as a visual map: an autistic person, an older adult with cognitive decline or a child who can't yet read can tell at a glance where the museum and the tower are. The NaviLens code reads the same information aloud for those who can't see the pictograms.
Church · Old town
Two totems aligned, one single grammar
Beside the church two lecterns are aligned: one tells the current building, the other suggests the route to the next point of interest. A blind person chains scans —totem after totem— without losing the thread of the old-town walk.
The 12 totems are spread across the train station, the municipal park, the Municipal Market, the MARS Museum, the Church of the Virgin of the Angels, the Town Hall, the Casa Palau, three modernista houses on Valencia and Sant Roc streets, and the Port of Silla.
§ What they said
“Silla ya luce los nuevos tótems de información turística. En los tótems se incluye información en braille, códigos para escanear y pictogramas dirigidos a personas con distintas capacidades, gracias a ARASAAC. En total se han instalado 12 tótems, en la Estación de tren, parque municipal, Mercado municipal, Museo MARS, Iglesia de la Virgen de los Ángeles, Ayuntamiento, Casa Palau, casas modernistas y Puerto de Silla.”
“El Ayuntamiento de Silla ha iniciado la instalación de unos tótems de información turística en los edificios históricos y otros lugares relevantes del municipio. Destacan por ofrecer la información turística al visitante de la mejor manera, facilitar los recorridos y apuntar diferentes itinerarios de una forma accesible y fácil de entender.”
“Visit Valencia, en colaboración con ARASAAC y la Asociación Valenciana de padres de personas con autismo, ha desarrollado un mapa turístico con pictogramas para facilitar la accesibilidad cognitiva. Los tótems de Silla aplican esa misma gramática visual a escala municipal.”
§ And your destination?
Your destination can also guide in 42 languages.
Tell us about your routes, offices, monuments or galleries. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make your offer accessible —with comparable cases.
