Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
A panel discussion with architects Hansel Bauman, Magda Mostafa, and Joel Sanders. Moderated by Linda Friedlaender, Head of Education, Yale Center for British Art
What Is Inclusive Design?
Join three core members of MIXdesign as they discuss why designing architectural spaces that are accessible and appropriate for all people is an exercise in inclusive design and an acknowledgement of basic human rights. MIXdesign is a New York–based think tank and consultancy that is dedicated to transforming everyday building types such as restrooms, workplaces, schools, and museums into accessible spaces that accommodate people of all ages, genders, races, religions, and abilities. By carefully considering the needs of individuals long overlooked by architects, interior designers, and clients, MIXdesign embraces the power of buildings to influence the ways people encounter and move through them and their potential to provide socialization, learning, shelter, and employment.
Generous support for this program has been provided by the Norma Lytton Fund for Docent Education, established in memory of Norma Lytton by her family. Lytton was an active docent at the Center for more than twenty years and subsequently spent a decade engaged in research for the Center’s Department of Paintings and Sculpture.
Panelists
Hansel Bauman
Hansel Bauman is Human-Centered Design Specialist at MIXdesign and Founder and Principal of HB/a+p. Bauman served as adjunct faculty and Campus Architect for Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, the only liberal arts university fully dedicated to serving deaf and hard of hearing students. There, he led the development of the "DeafSpace Design Guidelines"—a catalogue of more than one hundred architectural principles attuned to deaf/spatial sensibilities—for which he received the International Association of Universal Design Gold Award in 2015.
Magda Mostafa
Magda Mostafa is Autism Design Specialist at MIXdesign. She is a Design Associate at Progressive Architects, a Cairo, Egypt-based practice, where she specializes in autism inclusive design. Mostafa is an Associate Professor of Design in the Architecture Department of the American University in Cairo and the Co-Director of the UNESCO-UIA Education Commission and Validation Council. She is the author of the Autism ASPECTSS™ Design Index, the first research-based design framework for autism worldwide.
Joel Sanders
Joel Sanders is Director of MIXdesign, which he founded in 2018 as a branch of his New York-based studio, JSA. The design firm is an NGLCC-certified LGBT Business Enterprise. JSA projects have been featured in international exhibitions and the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, and MoMA, New York. Sanders is also former Director of Post-Professional Studies and Professor in the Practice at the Yale School of Architecture.
Image: Hansel Bauman, photo by Diego Herrea; Magda Mostafa, photo by Malak Yassin; Joel Sanders, photo by Peter Dressel
A panel discussion with architects Hansel Bauman, Magda Mostafa, and Joel Sanders. Moderated by Linda Friedlaender, Head of Education, Yale Center for British Art
What Is Inclusive Design?
Join three core members of MIXdesign as they discuss why designing architectural spaces that are accessible and appropriate for all people is an exercise in inclusive design and an acknowledgement of basic human rights. MIXdesign is a New York–based think tank and consultancy that is dedicated to transforming everyday building types such as restrooms, workplaces, schools, and museums into accessible spaces that accommodate people of all ages, genders, races, religions, and abilities. By carefully considering the needs of individuals long overlooked by architects, interior designers, and clients, MIXdesign embraces the power of buildings to influence the ways people encounter and move through them and their potential to provide socialization, learning, shelter, and employment.
Generous support for this program has been provided by the Norma Lytton Fund for Docent Education, established in memory of Norma Lytton by her family. Lytton was an active docent at the Center for more than twenty years and subsequently spent a decade engaged in research for the Center’s Department of Paintings and Sculpture.
Panelists
Hansel Bauman
Hansel Bauman is Human-Centered Design Specialist at MIXdesign and Founder and Principal of HB/a+p. Bauman served as adjunct faculty and Campus Architect for Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, the only liberal arts university fully dedicated to serving deaf and hard of hearing students. There, he led the development of the "DeafSpace Design Guidelines"—a catalogue of more than one hundred architectural principles attuned to deaf/spatial sensibilities—for which he received the International Association of Universal Design Gold Award in 2015.
Magda Mostafa
Magda Mostafa is Autism Design Specialist at MIXdesign. She is a Design Associate at Progressive Architects, a Cairo, Egypt-based practice, where she specializes in autism inclusive design. Mostafa is an Associate Professor of Design in the Architecture Department of the American University in Cairo and the Co-Director of the UNESCO-UIA Education Commission and Validation Council. She is the author of the Autism ASPECTSS™ Design Index, the first research-based design framework for autism worldwide.
Joel Sanders
Joel Sanders is Director of MIXdesign, which he founded in 2018 as a branch of his New York-based studio, JSA. The design firm is an NGLCC-certified LGBT Business Enterprise. JSA projects have been featured in international exhibitions and the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, and MoMA, New York. Sanders is also former Director of Post-Professional Studies and Professor in the Practice at the Yale School of Architecture.
Image: Hansel Bauman, photo by Diego Herrea; Magda Mostafa, photo by Malak Yassin; Joel Sanders, photo by Peter Dressel
