Presque Isle / Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Erie, PA

Exhibit and media concept design and development, research.

Exhibit studio: Christopher Chadbourne and Associates, Inc., Boston, MA.

Interior of main exhibit area. An emphasis was placed on creating as “green” a building as possible (renewable and/or recycled building materials, natural lighting and air conditioning where possible, etc.). Note the vernacular architecture “fish” façade to the right: a celebration of a Presque Isle diner from the past.

Interpretive signage and exhibits. Materials and color palette chosen to also extend the “green” nature of the building.

“High-level” and “middle-level” interpretive signage combined with interactive media.

Winding, flowing exhibit spaces to mirror the idea of flowing “littoral drift” that created Presque Isle. These flowing areas also allow for greater accommodation of multiple visitor (school) groups.

Again, supporting the “natural” theme, several pieces of interpretive “media” were rendered as simple, colorful automata, mechanical dioramas.

Video theater showing images of Lake Erie across the seasons set in a setting reminiscent of the natural habitats of Presque Isle.

Celebrating their pop-cultural heritage, a notable UFO encounter on Presque Isle rendered using a classic science fiction movie poster.

Yes, another one, but you just gotta love a place of learning, developed in accordance with the quiet, subtle changes of nature, that can still have fun.