News

June 07, 2023

We love sharing drone footage documenting progress at the Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center building site! Last Wednesday the project hit a major milestone—construction crews poured concrete for the isolator pad that will support Endeavour’s entire shuttle stack. The isolator pad is ~8 feet thick, so it was a LOT of concrete. It’s the dark gray rectangle within the rounded Shuttle Gallery in the clips below. (The Air Gallery is the yellow area; the Space Gallery is the adjacent gray area.)

 

February 27, 2023

The California Science Center opened Endeavour‘s 60-foot-long payload bay doors for the first time since 2014 – a significant endeavor in itself! Crane operators, former NASA contractors and museum staff installed a replica of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), a 50-foot-long camera-and-laser tipped extension to the robotic Canadarm that astronauts used to inspect the vehicle for damage incurred during launch or while in space. In its permanent home in the new Samuel Oschin Air + Space Center, currently under construction, Endeavour will be displayed vertically in full shuttle stack mode with one payload door will be open so guests can see inside the cargo hold as it was configured for its 20th mission, STS-118. Learn more at collectSpace.

Photos courtesy of California Science Center and Lois Huneycutt.

February 26, 2023

After digging way down, the walls of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center are now going up—what a view from the drone! The site is full of rebar, concrete, and constant activity as the gallery that will be Endeavour’s permanent home takes shape. In a few months, the orbiter will be raised and installed vertically as if on the launchpad and then the building will be completed around it.

Images courtesy of the California Science Center.

October 16, 2022

Evidence Design is pleased to announce that the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is an 2022 SEGD Finalist. The SEGD Global Design Awards honor design that inspires and improves the human experience. The holistic, integrated program and exhibition design fulfill the Burke’s ambitious goal to eliminate barriers between the activities and collections of the museum and the visiting public. We are so proud and grateful for the role we played in helping to create this visionary, “inside-out” museum.  See photos and read all about the project in the SEGD Finalist Gallery.

June 20, 2022

Evidence Design is over the moon to announce that the Samuel Oschin Air + Space Center broke ground on June 1st. Kudos to the California Science Center and the entire team, including ZGF Architects with whom we have enjoyed a close collaboration from the project’s inception.

“The California Science Center is thrilled to celebrate this milestone today,” remarked California Science Center President and CEO, Jeffrey Rudolph. “The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will be a launchpad for creativity and innovation to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.”

Artist rendering courtesy California Science Center/ ZGF Architects

July 16, 2021

The Capital Jewish Museum has been under construction for almost a year, and this week we finally got to visit the site and our colleagues IN PERSON! After 15 months of designing exhibits over conference calls, it was incredibly gratifying to step inside Washington’s oldest synagogue, pin up test graphics in the main gallery, and toast our collective effort to create a participatory experience that examines universal themes at the intersection of American Judaism and American democracy. Many thanks to the DC project team for hosting us so graciously — the CJM staff, SmithGroup architects, and the Consigli construction crew!

June 17, 2021

Evidence Design is delighted to celebrate the end of lockdown and the reopening of California (and New York) with the debut of Life! Beginnings, our latest collaboration with the California Science Center, on June 18—just in time for Father’s Day. The entire project team has been working on this exhibition—which celebrates life’s ability to make more life—throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Opening this project feels like a sphinx moth emerging from a caterpillar pupa, like those you will find in the exhibition! 

 Life! Beginnings explores how humans and all living things reproduce, develop and pass on their genes and marks the first phase of a planned renovation of CSC’s World of Life gallery. Congratulations to the California Science Center and all our creative and technical partners.

August 27, 2020

We are thrilled to share the Capital Jewish Museum’s online Groundbreaking Festival on September 12-18. The Capital Jewish Museum is a new institution anchored by the oldest synagogue in Washington, DC. Evidence Design has been working with the museum to develop a participatory approach that examines local history with the intersection of American Judaism and Democracy at its core. Guests will encounter the dynamics of identity, community and civic engagement past and present to evoke critical conversation and dialogue. Kudos to building the architect, SmithGroup. Register for free celebration events here.

March 03, 2020

Evidence Design is honored to co-present the closing plenary session of the 2020 Building Museums Symposium with our colleagues at the Burke Museum. The session will focus on how an unwavering commitment to radical transparency led the Burke on a journey to build new facility that seamlessly integrates back-of-house activities with public experiential spaces. Featuring 13 visible labs and workrooms and a people-centered interpretive strategy, the Burke is a new kind of museum—and a whole new way to experience our world. We will explore how to define a clear and authentic vision for a project, how to communicate and stay true to that vision at critical junctures, keys to forming deep and collaborative relationships, and effective prototyping to verify, develop and refine the vision. We hope that others gain insights for their own projects, large or small.

In addition, March 2020 marks the ten-year anniversary of Science Storms at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago. Evidence Design and the original MSI team will celebrate this groundbreaking exhibit’s enduring mission and beauty with special behind-the-scenes tours for Building Museum participants.