Designing for All: UB's IDEA Center Shapes Inclusive Experience at Utica Children's Museum
BY KELLY SHELDON
Published July 1, 2025
The Utica Children's Museum is the first museum of its kind in New York State to receive the Innovative Solutions for Universal Design Certification (isUD™) designation. Photo by CSArch.
The University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning is home to a world-renowned hub dedicated to advancing inclusive design through policies, practices, environments, and products. It’s known as the IDEA Center—short for “Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access.”
The IDEA Center recently collaborated with a team of partners on the design of the new Utica Children’s Museum, which celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 29, 2025. The center played a key role by offering expert guidance on universal design standards to ensure the museum would be inclusive for all visitors. Thanks to this support, the museum is the first of its kind in New York State to receive the Innovative Solutions for Universal Design Certification (isUD™) designation.
Members of the design team pose with museum leadership. From left to right: Greg Belew (Hands On! Studio), Nathan Myhre (Hands On! Studio), Danise Levine (UB IDEA Center), Meghan Fraser McGrogan (Utica Children's Museum), Alexandra Garrity (CSArch), Ashley Sheehan (CSArch), Bill Pennock (CSArch), Daniel Woodside (CSArch). Photo by CSArch.
The interdisciplinary team that made this welcoming, imaginative, and engaging new facility possible included the design professionals at CSArch, exhibit designers at Hands On! Studio, and UB’s IDEA Center with Assistant Director and architect Danise Levine. UB alumna Alexandra Garrity (MArch ’18, BSArch ’16) also played an impactful role as project architect on the CSArch team, where she was responsible for schematic design development, technical drawings, renderings, production of construction documents, and construction administration.
Two things stand out clearly when Levine speaks about this project: her deep passion for her work and her appreciation for this teams’ collaborative spirit, creativity, and open-mindedness. “We all went into this project with a common goal,” she reflected. “We were committed to making the entire facility as inclusive as possible, and when you surround yourself with super talented people, good things happen.”
Danise Levine, Architect and Assistant Director of UB's IDEA Center
When Levine graduated from the UB School of Architecture and Design in the mid-90s, she had no plans to stay in Buffalo. The day before her graduation ceremony, Dr. Edward Steinfeld, founder and former director of the IDEA Center, invited, and convinced, her to come work for him. Twenty-nine years later she's still here, enjoying her work and helping the IDEA Center thrive.
In that time, Levine has built a robust portfolio of successful and innovative projects for which she’s provided universal design guidance. These include Museum Lab, an expansion project of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh located in a historic former Andrew Carnegie library; the Hampton by Hilton hotel across from UB’s north campus in Amherst, NY; Motion Junction, an all-inclusive playground in Canandaigua, NY; and the HANSA Workspace, an all-inclusive flexible office space and coworking center in Buffalo, NY.
Looking forward, Levine is currently working on four universal design projects that will receive isUD certification upon completion. They include a Learning Center in Brooklyn, NY; the Pop District Entertainment Venue for the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA; a historic national museum in Washington, DC; and a new landside terminal at the Pittsburgh International Airport.
Universal design is defined on the IDEA Center’s website as “a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation.” Going well beyond the minimum legal standards for accessibility, universal design is performance based and addresses usability issues for people of all ability levels.
Universal design features at the Utica Children's Museum include at-grade building entrances across the facility's entire exterior. Photo by CSArch.
One of the first universal design features visitors may notice at the Utica Children’s Museum is that all building entrances are at grade. This means that everyone – whether they are ambulatory, using a wheeled mobility device, or have difficulty navigating stairs – can access the museum through any entrance. There’s no single “accessible entryway,” because they’re each designed to welcome everyone equally.
Upon entering, examples of universal design abound, though many are subtly integrated: strategically placed signage in high-contrast colors for easy wayfinding; multisensory and interactive exhibits with levers that don’t require tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist; graphic decals applied to full-height glass surfaces for visibility and safety; restrooms with changing tables for all ages and sizes; and circulation paths that are free from protruding objects with clear floor spaces. A room called the Privacy Room is outfitted with low lighting, soft furniture, and calming colors and is available for anyone who may be feeling overstimulated or just needs a break.
Kids engage with the musem's interactive donor wall. In the background is The Climber, a series of physical challenges that help build confidence and problem solving skills through safe risk-taking. Photo by CSArch.
“Some people don’t truly understand universal design until they have the opportunity to experience it,” Levine explained. “Often times they confuse it with accessibility and think that if a building is universally designed, it will look institutional with grab bars, elevators, and ramps. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Although accessibility is certainly important, our strategy is to go beyond the accessibility guidelines and seamlessly blend universal design features into the overall design.”
In her role, Levine worked closely with the partners from CSArch and Hands On! Studio throughout the project reviewing architectural drawings and exhibit overviews, renderings and wayfinding/signage documents identifying design improvements to ensure that every element of the museum would be usable by all visitors.
Visitors experience culture, language, art, games, and more in the World Market. Photo by CSArch.
“For instance, I’d look at the exhibit drawings and think, ‘How would a child interact with the exhibit features? Are all the functions in the exhibit within an inclusive reach range for both standing and seated users?’ If there was a projecting shelf, I would recommend that they provide knee and toe clearance so someone using a mobility device could roll under it and interact with the exhibit as designed.’ I also did a thorough review of each building space and collaborated with the extremely creative Museum staff on wayfinding and signage strategies to help building users navigate through the museum’s many spaces.”
As more buildings begin to adopt universal design principles, Levine believes public appreciation for the approach will continue to grow. After all, nearly everyone is likely to benefit from universal design at some point in their lives, whether recovering from a temporary disability or injury, living with a vision or hearing impairment, experiencing age-related mobility changes, or living with a long-term disability.
“There are no negatives to it,” Levine emphasized. “I’m hoping that as more people get to experience buildings being designed to be healthier, friendlier, and safer, they will demand changes and universally designed buildings will become an industry standard."
UB is proud of the work that Levine and the IDEA Center have done to advance this practice as well as the commitment that the Utica Children’s Museum has made toward making its community more inclusive. For Levine, the motivation is deeply principled. “I do it because it’s the right thing to do,” she says. “And I want to make this world a better place.”