The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, which is the only museum in the country devoted to historical and contemporary design, will be reopening on the 12th of December following a “Transformational” redesign and a rebrand by Pentagram's Eddie Opara. The redesign and renovation project of the museum, which closed to the public in 2011, began back in 2008, and has set it back £54 million. The redesign, however, endeavours to inject some fresh life into the building, with 60% more gallery space now available for both permanent and temporary exhibitions.
The Cooper Hewitt Museum is the only museum in the US devoted to historical and contemporary design
Animation demonstrating the scalability of the new Cooper Hewitt typeface.
Of the rebrand, Opara said; “Cooper Hewitt’s new identity plays it straight, with no play on visual or theoretical complexity, no puzzling contradiction or ambiguity, no distracting authorship. Function is its primary goal, and ultimately the logo is important, but not as important as what the museum does.” The rebrand was based on the new Cooper Hewitt typeface created by Chester Jenkins of Village, which Jenkins himself described as “A contemporary sans serif.”
The museum is housed in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, which was also given an upgrade by Gluckman Mayner Architects, who worked with executive architect Beyer Blinder Bell Architects & Planners and Hood Design. Other companies who took part in the ambitious project included Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who designed the new Cooper Hewitt shop and developed casework for the museums galleries, and DSR, who worked on the design of the pen with the consultancy, Local Projects.
The plan is that each visitor will be given their own interactive pen at the start of their tour
The museum used the 3 years of down time to develop a new strategy that will “Redefine today's museum experience.” This strategy includes such innovations as an interactive pen that lets visitors record and share their visit, and an “Immersion Room,” which allows visitors to use their pen to either choose from a selection of digital wallpapers of design their own. The brief for the project to create a “Visitor technology that emphasised play and spoke to the specificities of a design museum,” and with DSR's interactive pen, they might just have knocked that brief out of the park (if it works, that is). The pen was adapted from the Sistelneworks vWand, which is a device initially developed as an inventory control device in healthcare.
The plan is that each visitor will be given their own interactive pen at the start of their tour. Their pens will use NFC technology to store information about exhibits they find interesting and this information can then be shared online. The pen can also be used (more excitingly) with interactive tables throughout the museum. Designed by Ideum, these tables can be used to (according to the museum's press release) “Explore and manipulate the objects they have collected, discover related objects in Cooper Hewitt’s collection, retrieve contextual information, learn more about designers, design processes and materials, watch and share videos and event sketch their own designs.” A world away from the simple “Press and pull” interactive exhibits of yore, I'm sure you'll all agree.
Cooper Hewitt has uploaded a free file, which will allow those with access to a 3D printer to print their own model of the Carnegie Mansion
Other exhibitions featured in the museum from opening day include the Process Lab, which features a series of interactive installations such as the “Design it Better” interactive table, which lets visitors create new design features for everyday objects, and “Getting Ideas,” where new products can be invented by merging the features of objects visitors are carrying.
3D Scanning the Carnegie Mansion
As an added bonus, Cooper Hewitt has uploaded a free file, which will allow those with access to a 3D printer to print their own model of the Carnegie Mansion, which was built in 1903, so includes an exorbitant amount of vintage detail. All 64 rooms are included in the file so you're going to want to make sure you've really stocked up on resin!
