Salle des fossiles de l’Institution Smithsonian
Overview
L’exposition Deep Time explore 3,7 milliards d’années de vie et de changement mondial sur Terre. L’exposition présente plus de 700 fossiles, tout en intégrant les collections et l’expertise de scientifiques de plusieurs disciplines, d’une manière unique et inattendue. L’exposition illustre également comment les humains sont le résultat des forces de l’évolution, et comment nous influençons le changement mondial et l’avenir de la Terre. On s’attend à ce que la galerie soit l’une des plus visitées au monde, en attirant plus de 50 millions de visiteurs au cours de la prochaine décennie.
Details
- Client
- Musée national d’histoire naturelle de la Smithsonian Institution
- Project
- Salle des fossiles David H. Koch – Exposition Deep Time
- Size
- 31,000 sq. ft.
- Scope
- Conception d’exposition, Design graphique
- Location
- Washington D.C., États-Unis
- Year Completed
- 2019
- Budget
- $110,000,000
The
Goal
The gallery anticipates drawing over 50 million people during the next decade. It is the centerpiece of a seven-year effort, comprising over 31,000 square feet of gallery space, 700 fossils and a project budget of $110 million dollars.
The gallery has a broad perspective, helping visitors learn from the past and understand global change over time. The exhibits integrate collections and knowledge from many departments of the museum, including Paleobiology, Mineral Sciences, Botany, Entomology, Vertebrate Zoology, Invertebrate Zoology, and Anthropology.
Unlike virtually every other palaeontology exhibit, The Hall illustrates how humans are a result of the forces of evolution, and how we are currently affecting global change and the Earth’s future. A major challenge of the project was working with the museum to translate and illustrate 3.7 billion years of biological history and global collections, within a 31,000 sf exhibit. The design of the gallery was developed concurrently with the restoration of the heritage architecture.
The
Result
The opportunity to create a new gallery for dinosaurs and fossils at the Smithsonian Institution only comes once every few generations. The historic hall, originally from 1911, has been entirely renovated. The exhibition, Deep Time, highlights 4.6 billion years of global change on Earth.
“After such a long process with so many people involved, it was actually better than I imagined it could be. This exhibit will stop people in their tracks.”
-Matt Currano, Curator of Dinosauria
Reich + Petch was responsible for overall art direction and creative direction. Yet the design expression celebrates the work of literally hundreds of artists, sculptors, filmmakers, writers, modelmakers, lighting designers, muralists, fabricators engineers, architects, acoustic consultants and many others. This team, along with the Smithsonian’s curators, scientists, technicians and artists uses skill and artistry to integrate complex messages and dense displays to create a gallery without parallel. The result is five galleries, across seven disciplines, including 700 specimens, and the integration of multimedia and intricate graphics. The vital process of peer review, script review and visitor evaluation ensured accuracy and scientific rigor. The content has shaped the design to such an extent that the design itself is a pure journey through the content; deep, thoughtful, hopeful, and beautiful.
NBC's Today Show
