Housed for over two decades in a converted warehouse, MIT’s Museum’s educational mission, collections, and community programming had outgrown their facilities. The construction of a university campus in Kendall Square provided the opportunity to create a new multifaceted cultural institution. The exhibitions serve an educational imperative of community engagement and support of learning as a critical part of achieving social equity. Given that public misinformation about science and technology has reached new heights, the museum design is “inside out,” meaning that the new facility is front-facing and transparent so that the community is part of the dialogue.
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MIT Museum Exhibitions
Exhibition – Interior Design (Built)
Firm
Studio Joseph
Architect/Designer
Wendy E Joseph
Design Team
Alexandra Adamski, Alice Tallman, Charlotte Kasper Connie Wu, Daniel Toretsky, Jose Luis Vidalon, Monica Coghlan Sharon Li, Shriya Sanil, Shuo Yang, Wendy Joseph, Wonwoo Park, Albane Jerphanion
Location
Cambridge MA
Country
United States
Photographer/Copyright
©Alex Fradkin
Over 22,000 SF of galleries on two floors address accessibility throughout with multi-sensory interfaces. Sustainability is a core value of the MIT Museum and is central to both the content of the exhibition and the design strategy. Their principles led to material selections that are robust for long life expectancy and made with recycled or renewable resources. Choreographed for maximum impact, the diversity of the spatial design brings the visitor through complex themes in a memorable, playful way. Each gallery has a curatorial narrative, respective display system, and material quality with a flexible armature that is technically and programmatically adaptable. The materiality and formal languages of assembly vary, but together, they knit into a singular, highly charged visceral experience. Given that MIT is a place of individuals with specific knowledge, we encourage personal narrative via wall-mounted circular audio cones. They vary in size and activate via motion sensors, inviting visitors to listen to scientists speak about their personal history, why, and what they do. The design is technically sophisticated, elegantly detailed, yet approachable, robust, and playful.
Throughout the galleries, physio-digital interactive experiences drive adult learning. As the precedents for science museums are almost exclusively for children 5-12, we invented opportunities for adults and children to be together. The team was dedicated to accessibility in the fullest sense, providing experiences with sound, touch, and haptic modes so that everyone is a participant. The inventions required multiple rounds of prototyping.
Physical Design Description of Selected Galleries
• Collections: Over 200 artifacts are displayed in an 85-foot-long armature. The vitrines glow at their edges with rear illumination. Moving images project through translucent panels, showing how the inventions on display work.
• AI Gallery: An armature of tubular metal steel integrates lighting, vitrines, and graphics. At first, the planning feels overlapping and chaotic, yet upon entry, the orthogonal system with a clear circulation path comes into view. The duality of circulation experience echoes the curatorial narrative of ambiguous collaboration between humans and AI.
• Essential MIT: Content topics are organized into a series of discrete platforms. Each triangulated form of perforated metal has internal lighting. Its folded surfaces include artifacts, graphics, and interactive media.
• Art and Science: An immersive white display with curvilinear panels showcases mechanized robotics. They are seen as part of an ethereal effect that is an intriguing counterpoint to their angularity.