This exhibition design for the Science Museum, London had an unusual design method: the cross-fertilisation between museum exhibition design techniques and commercial design ones. Rogers had taken a similar approach to his 2009 ‘Prove It!’ design, also at the Science Museum.
Rogers used design to engage diverse audiences through the development of active visual and haptic environments. He also drew on previous high-profile work in engaging the public at Tate Modern: the 2006 redevelopment of Level 3 and 5 Concourses. The ‘Science News Now’ brief was to create a permanent gallery to occupy the ground floor of the Wellcome Wing. Rogers decided the challenge was to design a dynamic digital exhibition space that would visualise environmental data streams, and provide a strong physical environment for displaying ephemeral and constantly changing content.
‘Prove It!’ was similarly concerned with communicating environmental data in accessible ways. Opened before the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the exhibition explored the scientific evidence behind climate change using the minimum of physical materials. Both exhibition designs were underpinned by research into digital visualisation and interactive precedents in other world-class museums such as Cité des Sciences, Paris, which deals with a similar high-volume, heavy-use audience. The ‘Science News Now’ exhibition targets young adults, but has been observed by museum staff to attract all age groups. The exhibition is located within the busy central hub of the Museum, supporting the needs of the visitors while allowing them, as in Rogers’s restaurant designs, to define their own use of the spaces.
Dr Tim Molloy, Head of Creative Direction at the Museum, remarked on the success of the project: ‘the audience respond in such a demonstrably positive way’. Rogers’s designs contributed to Antenna Science News, being shortlisted for the 2011 Innovations Award by the Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence.