Celebrate Summer with These Nature-Inspired Projects
With summer in full swing, SEGD wanted to take a moment to highlight several projects from our community that are inspired by the natural world. Take a journey through the world of plants and insects with these four innovative projects.
Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium
Ralph Appelbaum Associates
American Museum of Natural History
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. Ralph Appelbaum Associates 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 is the first Museum gallery in more than 50 years dedicated to insects, the most diverse group of animals on Earth and one that is critical to all terrestrial ecosystems. Its goal is to increase awareness and appreciation of this much misunderstood group. The Insectarium features a mix of live, digital, and hands-on experiences that invite visitors to explore how insects fill so many essential ecological roles—as pollinators, decomposers, soil aerators, and more. Highlights include 18 tanks of live species, including one of the world’s largest displays of live leafcutter ants; a 25-times-life-size model of a beehive with immersive video and a roleplay game that lets visitors “”Be a Bee””; multiple types of visualization (magnifiers, microscope, SEMs and more) that encourage visitors to see insects in new ways; and a variety of multi-sensory experiences to support different learning styles and accessibility needs.
Exhibition “ANTS”
SIA Agentura Raugs
The exhibition is an interactive story about ants in Latvia and around the world, and their diversity and interactions with different living organisms. It presents the results of the latest research on the relationship of ants to other hymenoptera and invites you to take a closer look at the peculiarities of the external anatomical structure of an ant. The design solution of the exhibition is based on three principles: exaggerated contrast and the feeling of big/small (allowing the visitor to feel how small the ant is, while also showing contrastingly large details – the visitor’s experience of being small in a big world), black and white pattern (the ant world is a collection of small parts, sometimes resembling moving patterns), internal organization, hierarchy, relationships (showing the visitor emotionally the family metaphor). Solutions for the interior are organic rounded shapes (biophilic approach) and accents in gold (reference to the ant queen’s crown). The exhibition uses a variety of technologies (sensor audio, special lighting solutions, video, tactical games and various surprises for visitors.
Missouri Botanical Garden Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center
Ayers Saint Gross
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a global leader in plant science research and the nation’s oldest botanical garden in continuous operation. Entering a new era, the Garden commissioned the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center as the primary gateway for more than one million annual visitors. Inspired by the history of the Garden and its extensive plant collection, the Visitor Center blurs boundaries between indoors and outdoors, creating an immersive experience by incorporating elements of the natural world. The Visitor Center integrates seamlessly into the Garden’s arrival sequence, serving as part of a series of thresholds through which the Garden reveals itself. The interpretive, educational, and wayfinding features of the building play a fundamental role in enhancing the visitor experience throughout the journey into the garden.
Once inside, visitors are immersed in natural light as they take in views of the extensive gardens beyond. The Visitor Center’s main lantern feature is suspended from the ceiling and includes a custom-designed scrim perforated in a pattern inspired by the canopy of the Garden’s historic Gingko tree. By filtering dappled light into the lobby, the lantern evokes the feeling of entering a clearing in the woods. At night, the glow of the lantern acts as a beacon for visitors and the community.
The Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center is a place of passage, but also a place of pause and reflection; a place to prepare visitors for the garden beyond. The moments of surprise and discovery found within are integral to a rich garden experience, and equips visitors for their journey ahead.
Wildwoods AGLOW
Thinkwell
Fernbank Museum of Natural History
Created as part of an ongoing partnership between Thinkwell and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, WildWoods: AGLOW is an all-new illuminated forest walk-through experience designed for visitors of all ages and abilities.
Inspired by the native flora and fauna that thrive in Fernbank’s ten acres of featured woodlands, WildWoods: AGLOW invites guests to discover the hidden interactions of nature and wildlife through an immersive blend of the real environment and enhanced vignettes. As the first experience of its kind in Atlanta, WildWoods: AGLOW surrounds audiences with the beauty, wonder and energy of nature’s living networks. Embracing the darkness of night and the glow of illumination, the outdoor trails of WildWoods are transformed into a unique portal of dynamic vistas, immersive moments, and awe-inspiring interactives.
Fernbank Museum of Natural History approached Thinkwell with an ask: to create a nighttime offering that would activate the old-growth forest that surrounds the museum in the cold, dark winter months. The experience was required to engage audiences of all ages and abilities with science and nature in a fun, accessible, and innovative format. Because the museum remained open during the daytime, Thinkwell was presented with the challenge of designing an experience that would be “invisible” even in daylight.
About SEGD
We are designers of experiences connecting people to place. SEGD is a multidisciplinary community collectively shaping the future of experience design. We are a thought leader and an amplifier in the practice of experience design. Learn more at segd.org.