2024 | Professional

MUSE Design Awards Platinum Winner

Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation

Entrant Company

Ralph Appelbaum Associates

Category

Interior Design - Museum

Client's Name

American Museum of Natural History

Country / Region

United States

The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is a 230,000-square-foot project (190,000 square feet of new construction and 40,000 square feet of renovated space) at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The RAA team focused on representing the exhibit items to stay true to their character found in nature. The Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium displays live insects and exhibits across 5,000 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. RAA 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 graphic identification cards along with graphic interpretive panels delivering information on these insects. There is also a dedicated moth tank, 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. Collection Core is a vertical feature that runs from the Lower Level to the Fourth Floor and features 2,500 square feet of floor-to-ceiling collections displays across three floors, encompassing the Macaulay Family Foundation Galleries on the first and second floors. 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 expanding collections on display.



The Yurman Family Crystalline Pass features a 19-foot-long vein of crystal quartz sourced from a mine in Arkansas. The design recreated the vein as found in nature and embedded this display into the architectural wall, featured behind glass.

Credits

Project Manager, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Matt Krupanski
Project Designer, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Joshua Dudley
Physical Designer, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Erin Kentch
Visual Designer, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Christiaan Kuypers
Physical Designer, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Philip Drew
Content Developer, Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Judy Vannais
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