At the primary classroom in Sankalp - The Learning Centre & Special Needs School, in Kolappancheri, Chennai, the afternoon sunlight weaves in through one of the window grills, casting the most curious shadows. The window grill design contains the alphabet — ABCDs wrought in iron, that children trace their fingers across and read out loud.
This kind of tactile feedback is one of the design features that architect Benny Kuriakose pondered over before constructing Sankalp. The school for children with autism spectrum disorder, specific learning disability and intellectual and developmental disability, started its first centre, in Anna Nagar, in 1999. Two decades later, in 2021, Sankalp opened its most ambitious centre yet in Poonamallee, spanning across 1.35 acres. The Kolappancheri centre houses 136 students, from the ages of 5 to 20.
