Fernald Preserve exhibit

Student client project

Exhibition design studio

Summer 2007

US Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management »

10 weeks

Project images

Process Sketches

Plans

The Fernald Preserve is a former nuclear materials production plant in the Cincinnati area that has been decommissioned and is in the process of being turned into a nature preserve. The Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management contracted the Center for Design Research and Innovation at DAAP to design a LEED-rated visitors' center for the site, and created a studio course with the School of Architecture and Interior Design to conceptualize and design an exhibit for the visitors' center.

The resulting exhibit, currently under construction for an opening in June 2008, conveys the story of the site, from its Native American beginnings, through its agricultural past, the construction and operation of the nuclear plant, the environmental crisis and cleanup, and the ecology of the current site.

The site includes a disposal facility for three million cubic yards of nuclear waste. The sheer volume of waste is difficult to comprehend, so I suggested using the cubic yard as a datum for the entire exhibit, ingraining the unit into the visitors' minds. The walls of part of the exhibit are covered in three million tiny dots to show the vastness of that number, and there are two soil-filled Empire State Buildings.

The building includes an axis wall oriented to the sunrise on the summer solstice. The axis wall also serves as the beginning of the exhibit. I designed the wall with a small crack which expands rapidly, recalling a seismograph to reflect the eruption of activity on the site.

The design of the building also includes an angular, wing-like canopy over the entrance. I carried this gesture into the interior with the design of angular entrances and dividers for the exhibit. They are made of Ecoresin with embedded materials which reflect the exhibit topics.

In addition to my design contributions to the project, I was also in charge of model photography and creation of presentation materials.

Our design of the exhibit contributed several LEED points to the rating of the visitors center.

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