hat do architect Michael Graves and tennis star Andre Agassi, powerhouses in their respective fields, have in common?  Both are redefining Universal Design, and in the process are impacting not just guidelines, but aesthetics.

The concept of Universal Design focuses on designing all products and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability, or situation.  Since the government passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 (inspired by disabled Vietnam veterans), practically every conceivable experience from sitting on a toilet to crossing the road to reading directions has been regulated by means of measurement.  The government stipulates, for example, heights for toilets in school bathrooms to best suit the grades that use them.

Compliance with all these humanitarian rules is a costly business.  Elevators, for example, are required in all public spaces so that physically-challenged people can go wherever they want, be they infirm elderly people or those suffering from temporary mobility limitations due to injury—not just the wheelchair-bound.  Designer and restaurant tycoon Sir Terence Conran recollects that he spent about $40,000 extra per restaurant on complying with accessibility standards.

Even when a facility is in compliance with ADA regulations, many accessibility limitations still exist.  Michael Graves experienced a tragedy earlier this year when a viral infection paralyzed him from the waist down.  His friends expected he would turn his creative attention to redesigning his wheelchair, but what really needs attention, he says, is “the stupid room”.  His list of design failures in hospital patient rooms is long: the sinks are too low to allow the wheelchair arms to slide under them; the shelves are so deep he cannot access anything toward the back; there are only two drawers within his reach; the window blinds are too high and on the wrong side.

One doesn’t have to be in a wheelchair to encounter everyday products that do not meet the standards implied by Universal Design.  As advancing age impairs vision, directions and labels on household items and appliances can become impossible to read.  Incredibly, hearing aids do not necessarily help the hearing impaired to hear better—they just turn up the decibel level of everything, so that it’s often harder to hear what you want to hear.  And arthritic elderly people may grapple with safety devices on pill bottles designed to prevent access by children who are probably not living with them.

While ADA laws were the first step to addressing serious accessibility issues, strict dimension guidelines can actually limit new design concepts, ultimately hindering usability.  Fortunately, a redefinition of Universal Design is beginning in ways that counteract the present norm of simply adhering to a set of measurements.  The designers at Berlin studio 7.5 who just produced the new, brilliant Mirra chair for Herman Miller have reframed the Universal Design curricula for the German universities at which they teach.  They call the subject “user interface”, and they aim to banish, for example, all written documents explaining how to use a product.  Instead, they maintain, “The product responds to the user’s needs by feel.”

Tennis star Andre Agassi is extending the concept of Universal Design to the educational field, an area of critical concern in light of recent school tragedies.  The Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy located in Agassi’s home town of Las Vegas, Nevada, is a charter school that brings order and hope to a district with the highest crime rate in the city.  Its record of success with children at risk demonstrates that conventional standards of Universal Design in schools should reach far beyond following measurement codes if students are to be motivated to learn, respect property and human lives, and develop self-esteem.  Mindfully focused on giving back to the community, Agassi simply asked his award-winning architects Carpenter Sellers to come up with the best-designed school in the country.  There are no deadly, bland corridors here, or ugly asphalt open spaces.  All carpeted classrooms have thoughtfully-positioned daylighting, and each is painted a different color, with furniture to match.  The corridors reflect a rainbow of colors on the floors.  The list goes on: a music room for the choir; an art studio with a roll-up door so that work can go on outside; science laboratories as sophisticated as any Ivy League college.  With dedication and philanthropy, Agassi has set a model for a new interpretation of Universal Design in the school system—such a shining example that recently it was written into the Congressional Record.

Los Angeles architectural firm Pica + Sullivan, whose principals Joe Pica and Maureen Sullivan are parents of an autistic child, have also raised the bar in school design, concentrating on “places between the classrooms, where most learning takes place”.  Umbrella’d outdoor cafeterias, ponds for studying biology, and landscaping that promotes community feeling show how design that fulfills more than just bureaucratic guidelines can make all the difference.

Actor Paul Newman, founder of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Association for children with special needs, sets an example of design excellence in each of his numerous projects.  The Painted Turtle, Newman’s sixth camp and the first on the West Coast, is being designed by Michael Palladino of Richard Meier & Partners.  The camps allow children with serious illnesses to “just be kids” while enjoying the company of other children.  A magical transformation happens at these camps.  Otherwise-limited children can become actors, swimmers, athletes, horseback riders, and fishers.  A 15-year-old with sickle cell disease said, “I fight hard all winter so that I can have a summer of being a normal kid.  And I keep those memories all year.”  An 11-year-old with cancer summarized the key to the camp’s success: “If a kid is normal, they want to be treated special.  If a kid has a disease, they want to be treated normal.”  This, too, has become the key principle of Universal Design.  Rather than merely managing illness and disability, creating environments that promote and enable wellness, in every sense, is the focus of the future.

Beverly Russell is an international author, educator and certified labyrinth facilitator based in Los Angeles.