Audio-Tour of the Familistère

A tour of the Familistère in 11 stages, designed for visually impaired visitors.

The Familistère de Guise’s official App.

This application proposes a tour with audio-description of the Familistère at Guise, especially adapted for visually impaired visitors.

The tour includes 11 stages that take you through the Familistère grounds and buildings: from the information desk at the Economats all the way to the Pleasure Garden, with stops at the Main Square, the Central Pavilion, Godin’s apartment, the theatre and the Laundry-Pool.

It’s a clear and mindful audio-description of the site, taking into consideration the space, environment and textures. It is also heightened by delicate ambient sound which pertains specifically to each of the places visited.

Each description includes useful information for getting around and locating points of interest.

Visitors can choose the length and speed of their tour, stop the broadcast at any point whenever they please, or skip any stage if they want to.

A “Tactile Familistère” case nicely supplements the audio-description of the tour, and it is referred to in the sound files. The case can be picked up at the Economats information desk from the customer service agent there. Moreover, many tactile devices for finding one’s way around are placed in different spots on the Familistère grounds.

The length of the tour is about 1 h 30.

For best sound quality of the Audio-Tour of the Familistère, visitors are invited to equip themselves with headphones.

The application functions on smartphones and tablets.

The application “Audio-Tour of the Familistère” was created with the help of Mathilde Jolivet-Martin (Accès Libres) and the Union of Handicapped Persons Associations of Aisne. The application was created thanks to the support of the Department of Aisne and the French government (FNADT).