Smithsonian Institution: Hall of Fossils
Overview
Deep Time explora 3.7 mil millones de años de vida y el cambio global en la Tierra. Da vida a más de 700 fósiles, integrando a su vez las colecciones y la experiencia de científicos en múltiples disciplinas, de maneras únicas e inesperadas. También ilustra cómo los seres humanos son el resultado de las fuerzas de la evolución y cómo estamos afectando el cambio global y el futuro de la Tierra. Se espera que la galería sea una de las más visitadas del mundo, atrayendo a más de 50 millones de visitantes en la próxima década.
Details
- Client
- Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
- Project
- David H. Koch Hall of Fossils — Deep Time
- Size
- 31,000 sq. ft.
- Scope
- Diseño de Exhibiciones, Diseño Gráfico
- Location
- Washington, DC, Estados Unidos
- 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.
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