Universal Design with Mary Jo Peterson
Description
Featuring
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</figure>Mary Jo Peterson
Mary Jo Peterson is an award-winning author, speaker, educator, and designer with over 25 years of experience. She is president of Mary Jo Peterson, Inc, a design studio and consulting firm established in 1993 with specialized expertise in kitchen, bath, and universal/accessible design. The firm offers consulting services to private clients, manufactures of product, and builders/developers/architects in the design of universal spaces and products. Prominent projects include design for Del Webb, Pulte, and other major homebuilders, demonstration exhibit space for GE Appliances, Jenn-Air, and Hafele, and everyone’s favorite, the Betty Crocker Kitchens at General Mills in Minneapolis, MN. Ms. Peterson has contributed to the development of new national universal design standards introduced in 2013. Author of Universal Interiors by Design (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999) and Universal Kitchen and Bathroom Planning (McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 1998) as well as Kitchen Planning and Bath Planning of the NKBA resource library (latest edition, Wiley, 2013), Ms. Peterson has been elected by her peers to the NKBA Hall of Fame. She is author and instructor of the universal design courses offered by NKBA. Named by NAHB as CAPS Educator of the Year 2014, she is an author/instructor of the CAPS and UD/Build programs of NAHB. Involved with government and advocacy groups, Mary Jo works at integrating universal access and sustainability into home and product design, and actively promotes change and education towards the integration of access, sustainability, and beautiful design. Read more
Universal Design recognizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to design and construction. By incorporating Universal Design features into the built environment, we can accommodate for the widest variety of people, regardless of their limitations.
But, while the buzz around Universal Design is growing, we still receive many questions surrounding what it means for a specific project and where it can be applied.
To help answer these questions, we’ve asked Universal Design expert and award-winning author, Mary Jo Peterson, to share her knowledge of the topic and provide some examples of what it might mean for a specific project.
Episode Information & Resources
- News: Universal Design in WELL Building Standard
- Blog: Universal Design vs. Accessible Design
- Blog: Designing for All – Cooper Hewitt’s Access+Ability Exhibition
- Book: Universal Kitchen and Bathroom Planning: Design That Adapts to People
- Ted Talk: Why We Need Universal Design
We Want to Hear From You!
Send your feedback and questions to podcast@swinter.com
About Buildings and Beyond
Buildings and Beyond is the podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment by focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Buildings and Beyond is a production of Steven Winter Associates. We provide energy, green building, and accessibility consulting services to improve the built environment. For more information, visit swinter.com.
Hosts: Robb Aldrich | Kelly Westby
Production Team: Heather Breslin | Alex Mirabile | Dylan Martello
Episode Transcript
Kelly: (00:05 )
Welcome to buildings and beyond.
Robb: (00:08 )
The podcast that explores how we can create a more sustainable built environment.
Kelly: (00:12 )
By focusing on efficiency, accessibility, and health.
Robb: (00:17 )
I’m Robb Aldrich.
Kelly: (00:18 )
And I’m Kelly Westby. You may be thinking, so what is this universal design thing anyway? While the name would imply otherwise. Universal design is often associated with a tool for handling the needs of people with disability or perhaps in association with aging in place. But Mary Jo talks about universal design as just good design practice. Mary Jo built her own company in 1993 to assist private homeowners and design build professionals around the country achieve state of the art solutions for kitchen and bath designs. Mary Jo’s own journey to universal design came from a desire to support people with disabilities to make their homes easier for them to use and then realizing she could use her approach to improve flexibility and access for everyone. Mary Jo is constantly asking herself and those around her, how can we incorporate clever, beautiful elements that improve human performance? If you care about having a space that is easier to use and makes you feel good at the same time or if you want to design such a space for someone else, you will definitely want to keep listening. So let’s just jump right in.
Kelly: (01:26 )
So Mary Jo, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Mary Jo: (01:29 )
Happy to be here.
Kelly: (01:31 )
And thanks for welcoming us into your home for the podcast.
Mary Jo: (01:35 )
I’m always happy for that.
Kelly: (01:38 )
I like to set the scene a little bit with some definitions, so just to get us on the same page and our listeners as well. Can you start just by explaining what your definition of universal design is?
Mary Jo: (01:50 )
Yeah, I’d like to, in fact, it’s a pleasure to have the chance to help clarify because it’s a philosophy and an approach to design that people don’t always get their arms around and when we finally embrace it, we really don’t have to have a name anymore. It’s just good design. But in fact, the name universal design refers to, by formal definition, the design of products and spaces so that they will, with respect for the differences in people, be usable by as many people as possible. The UN has a definition that I think kind of adds to that. It talks about freedom to choose. So freedom, again, I think it’s about that respect of people in differences. If I speak Spanish and you speak English, if, if a space has been designed universally, then that sign will be a figure and we both know that it means that that’s where the women’s room is, right? You know that kind of thing. So, yeah, that’s a great example. It’s a lot about respect.
Kelly: (02:54 )
Yeah and I’ve seen another slight difference in definition, I think it’s from a book by Steinfeld and Measel, that it encourages the design of spaces that empower a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness and social participation.
Mary Jo: (03:12 )
Right. That’s a more contemporary definition.
Kelly: (03:15 )
Right. And what do you think about the health and wellness aspect of bringing that into design? Where are we with that?
Mary Jo: (03:22 )
I think it’s perfect. I have always thought that universal design spoke to health, you know, other terms, universal d
United States
