MILNE ARCHAEOLOGY EXHIBIT
@ DISCOVERY WORLD AT PIER WISCONSIN
Discovery World is a 120,000-square foot facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that includes interactive science, technology and freshwater exhibits, learning labs, theaters, television and audio studios, and fresh and saltwater aquariums.
Discovery World wished to nestle an archaeological exhibit within the existing mélange of their Techno-Jungle exhibit floor. This necessitated creating a semi-enclosed environment that would separate the user from previous experiences, but do so while integrating existing exhibits (and their stories). In this regard, special consideration was given to movement to and through the new exhibit and framing specific views back to the existing exhibits.
Discovery World is a terrific client for a designer: They resist the all-too-often museum tendency to mimic or represent the object of inquiry. This usually comes off as sad fiberglass replicas of the real thing. That’s appropriate in some places, but here the intention was to create something more “authentic.” For this exhibit, Design Fugitives proposed that a series of canted wood walls hold lit artifacts. The wall is clad in standard floor boards, deeply scored to create a complex pattern. DF prototyping efficiently demonstrated the possibilities to client.
^ above: Construction documentation lays out all score marks in simple terms to achieve the complex wall pattern generated by positioning of exhibit niches.
