Share to
Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation
By : Ralph Appelbaum Associates
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Interior Design
Categories : Culture, Sport & Leisure / Museum & Gallery : Gold Certification
The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is a 230,000-square-foot project (190,000 square feet of new construction, 40,000 square feet of renovated space) at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. We began work in 2014 as the lead exhibit designer on the project through to its opening. Our team focused on representing the exhibit items to stay true to its character found in nature. The Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium displays live insects and exhibits across 4,500 square feet. Highlights include live insect tanks, pinned insects, dioramas, insect models, a sound gallery, a 1:20 scale suspended resin sculpted bee hive with integrated AV experiences, and a massive leafcutter ant tank. We designed the ribbed finished ceiling, which speaks to the geometry of insect nests.
The 2,500 square foot Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium highlights the activities of over 80 live butterfly species. The space was designed to reflect a natural garden of plants and flowers that are butterfly appropriate. The butterflies have associated design graphic identification cards along with graphic interpretive panels delivering information on these insects. There is also a dedicated moth tank and pupae tank and butterfly feeders that were custom designed along with the garden grow light lamp shades. Additionally, the space was designed to be conditioned to provide temperature and humidity conditions to allow the butterflies to survive and thrive.
The Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core is a combined 240 linear feet across 3 floors that display items and artifacts from the museum’s collection. The double-sided cases allow visitors to see through into the collections core storage itself and view the scientists at work. Integrated within the design are 100” digital touch screens and a flexible shelving and mounting system to adapt to the ever growing and expanding collections on display.
The Yurman Family Crystalline Pass is approximately 40 linear feet and features a scenic element of rock and earth with actual crystals taken from a vein section in a mine in Arkansas. The design recreated the vein as found in nature and embedded this display into the architectural wall, featured behind glass.
The 2,500 square foot Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium highlights the activities of over 80 live butterfly species. The space was designed to reflect a natural garden of plants and flowers that are butterfly appropriate. The butterflies have associated design graphic identification cards along with graphic interpretive panels delivering information on these insects. There is also a dedicated moth tank and pupae tank and butterfly feeders that were custom designed along with the garden grow light lamp shades. Additionally, the space was designed to be conditioned to provide temperature and humidity conditions to allow the butterflies to survive and thrive.
The Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core is a combined 240 linear feet across 3 floors that display items and artifacts from the museum’s collection. The double-sided cases allow visitors to see through into the collection’s core storage itself and view the scientists at work. Integrated within the design are 100” digital touch screens and a flexible shelving and mounting system to adapt to the ever growing and expanding collections on display.
The Yurman Family Crystalline Pass is approximately 40 linear feet and features a scenic element of rock and earth with actual crystals taken from a vein section in a mine in Arkansas. The design recreated the vein as found in nature and embedded this display into the architectural wall, featured behind glass.
Collaboration
