![Chris Downey is an architect and a consultant to architecture firms who became blind two days after a successful brain tumor removal operation in 2008. He will speak in Indianapolis Tuesday. - Rethinkingthefuture.com](/files/wfyi/articles/current/a2955-chris-downey-the-blind-architect.jpg)
Chris Downey is an architect and a consultant to architecture firms who became blind two days after a successful brain tumor removal operation in 2008. He will speak in Indianapolis Tuesday.
Rethinkingthefuture.comA California architect who is blind is part of the design team working to modernize the Indianapolis School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and The Indiana School for the Deaf.
Chris Downey said the $225 million project is an opportunity to build on an environment that will suit students’ educational and independent living skills.
“It’s really exciting not just to have the opportunity to do that but to be involved with their students in the faculties, the administration's life and future and really being a part of building these opportunities with these kids and letting them be all they can be,” Downey said.
Downey lost his vision after surgery to remove a brain tumor more than a decade ago.
He will talk about how an architect designs for people who are blind during a special public presentation Tuesday. It begins at 6 p.m. at the Indiana War Memorial, 55 E. Michigan St.
The event is hosted by the American Institute of Architects Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and The Indiana School for the Deaf, will be located on the 67-acre School of the Blind campus on North College Avenue.
While both schools will remain independent, they will share resources.