The
Design

Powerful forces of nature are found throughout this exhibition. Visitors encounter thunderstorms, dance through winter snowstorms and explore extreme heat events. Visitors can experience a research flight through an intensive hurricane, witness the destruction by the power of a tornado, follow turbulent cloud formations and lightning strikes, become citizen scientists in the midst of a raging winter storm, and meet a researcher studying the force of wind in the lab. There are kid-focused crawl throughs and photo opportunities throughout.

The exhibit is divided into key theme areas, each differentiated by using bright colours inspired by weather radar to easily orient visitors and highlight key elements within the space. Zones are hands-on and interactive, each with its own mix of experiments, challenges, models, sculpture, digital interactives, multimedia experiences, and large scale images.

Atmospheric fabric walls with large format graphics showcasing extreme weather events are used to encase the exhibit and direct visitors. A gallery of hurricane photography and its impact on citizens across the United States is also given a special design treatment in the center of the exhibit. These large photographic images are displayed on freestanding walls layered in distressed wood to embody the destruction and ruin left behind by these overwhelming forces of nature.

As a travelling exhibit, special consideration was taken to design a collection of exhibits that can be reoriented in each host venue and still maintain continuity and cohesiveness. Exhibits were designed to be stand-alone and easily assembled and disassembled for transport and given a strict height limit.