The People’s House: A White House Experience
The People’s House: A White House Experience, created by the White House Historical Association, is a groundbreaking educational adventure that tells the story of America’s Executive Mansion and the people dedicated to its functions.
Agency
Ralph Appelbaum Associates, Cortina Productions, Inc.
Practice Area
Client
White House Historical Association
Industry
The Challenge
The design of The People’s House was led by three primary objectives: remove barriers to entry by creating an accessible, free, and open space to empower personal exploration and educational visitor journeys; offer groundbreaking and future-facing exhibits that prioritize relatability through magical encounters with immersive environments; and reveal the rich history of the White House and its inhabitants with unexplored stories that promote contemporary dialogues and celebrate our enduring democracy.
Project Vision
The White House Experience aims to offer an accessible visitor experience in both design and content. The logo of The People’s House, featuring a partially opened door modeled after the North Portico entrance, extends a warm welcome for visitors to discover and explore while reinforcing the door’s symbolic significance. By offering free and non-restricted entry to White House content, The People’s House reaches a broader audience and provides access to an otherwise more limited visitor experience.
With media experiences including a 360-degree immersive theater, dynamic room recreations and full-scale replicas, holographic displays, and RFID-driven interactives, The People’s House showcases groundbreaking historical interpretation through state-of-the-art technology. The intentional design of each space demonstrates the goal of highlighting not just media, but what media can do for the visitor experience. Technology augments the content and allows for a contemporary look and feel without overwhelming the visitor by offering hybrid engagement solutions and interactive storytelling.
The intentional design of each space demonstrates the goal of highlighting not just media, but what media can do for the visitor experience.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
Authenticity and creative approaches helped overcome the challenges of developing one-of-a-kind installations.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
Design + Execution
Authenticity and creative approaches helped overcome the challenges of developing one-of-a-kind installations. Early and ongoing content workshops with content experts helped ensure that each recreation and representation of historic artifacts were accurate, while design and technical planning meetings, as well as full-scale mockups, enabled the project team to create successful media exhibits.
By unlocking behind-the-scenes stories of the “working” White House and elevating untold lived experiences, The People’s House creates a space for awe, admiration, and learning, while emphasizing the nuances and complexities of the White House and its place within our nation’s history. It has quickly become a must-see attraction for tourists and locals alike, with The Washington Post calling it a “model of cutting-edge museum design.”
More than an exhibition, it is an immersive journey that unveils the influential figures and pivotal moments in White House history, ensuring its story remains engaging and accessible for generations to come.
Early and ongoing content workshops with White House content experts helped ensure that each recreation and representation of historic artifacts were accurate.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association
Throughout the galleries, content and storytelling is catered towards the general public, sharing inclusive histories and allowing for a variety of connection opportunities.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
The White House Experience works to transcend political difference, instilling new meaning in our country’s development and encouraging connection to a core symbol of democracy.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
In its effort to create a space of awe, admiration, and learning, it also emphasizes the nuances and complexities of the White House and its place within our nation’s history.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
By unlocking stories and elevating untold lived experiences, The People’s House promotes an appreciation for the White House in all its intricate facets for the benefit of a fractured nation.
Photo courtesy of White House Historical Association © Sahar Coston-Hardy
Project Details
This project has so much digital experience thinking in it, it might have run the risk of being just … too much. But the result is thoughtful, engaging, and constantly spot-on.
A full-on, dynamic experience offering many routes into the White House: from 1:1 scale immersive spaces, face to face encounters, to a magical animated cut-through of the building – a massive white doll’s house – that affords a multiplicity of intriguing glimpses behind-the scenes.
This immersive digital experience brings the White House to a human scale in a way that has never been done before. These immersive rooms provide a nuanced insight to the inner workings of the White House, directly engaging users with the backstories of ‘larger-than-life’ figures and leaders. This project brings innovation and imagination to the highest office in the land.
Design Team
Ralph Appelbaum Associates team:
Nick Appelbaum (principal in charge)
Michael Maggio (project director)
Thomas Mason (project manager)
Laura Epstein (lead content developer)
Jae-eun Chung (visual design director)
Jenny Taing, Jazmine Johnson (visual designers)
Matt Pearson (spatial design director)
Andrei Vovk (spatial designer)
Cortina Productions team:
Stephen Platenberg (principal-in-charge)
Amanda Scherer (creative director)
Megan Garnett (project director)
Brendan Lipton (lead interactive designer)
Andrew Prasse (visual effects lead)
Ian Holtum (lead developer)
Gayle Fields (digital project manager)
Drew Butler (interactive producer)
Kia Meredith-Cabellero (senior producer)
Rena Pace (associate producer)
Trayonna Hendricks (production coordinator)
Amanda Tuttle (graphic production manager)
Joe Griffith (technical artist)
Nick Spiropoulos (senior editor)
Malachi Musick (software engineer)
Collaborators
Gensler (architecture)
JM Zell (planning)
Design & Production (physical and digital fabrication)
EOS/Abernathy (lighting design)
Phase Shift Consulting (av systems)
Stephanie Rozzo (illustration)
Amanda Krupman (copyediting)
Photo Credits
Sahar Coston-Hardy / Esto; Niblock Studios for the White House Historical Association, Video Production by Cortina Productions
Open Date
September 2024
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