White Cane Detectable Cobble Stones

A common misconception by most people is that the patterned bumps at curb cuts are for wheelchairs. Not true because they don’t help with wheelchair traction. Those bumps are actually for people with blindness. Officially called truncated domes, they’re detectable by a white cane or can be felt by feet. They’re required by the ADA at curb cuts and places like the edge of a subway loading area. This way a person with blindness knows where they are before crossing a street or boarding a subway. Another use is a path of travel. When I visited South Korea a couple years ago, the subway stations had truncated dome pathways that led to different areas of the station. Spanish industrial designer Eliel Cabrera, designed a series of colored cobble stones that can be arranged in a variety of geometric patterns. He also included a series with white cane detectable truncated domes.

Cabrera calls his cobble stones YBR Cobble. They’re shaped like an angular boomerang and can be arranged in many MC Escher inspired patterns. Made of precast concrete, the cobbles are durable and easy to make into different colors. YBR Cobbles with truncated domes can be easily integrated and can be a different color for contrast.

Given the geometric shape of YBR Cobble, patterns can vary from herring bone, zig zag, squared, to 3D. If you played video games in the 80s, then the 3D pattern might remind you of Q*Bert! Anyway this is a creative and precise concept design that gives the consumer a lot of potential creativity. All while having that important accessible element. To see more of Eliel Cabrera’s portfolio, visit his website elielcabrera.wordpress.com.