Museums
Page is proud to welcome Davis Brody Bond to our family. Known for innovative solutions to complex design challenges, Davis Brody Bond brings over 70 years of talent and expertise to our team, inspiring us to Think What’s Possible.
Think What’s Possible
Designing the 21st Century Museum Bridging Art and Architecture — from Concept to Cultural Landmark
The design of museums and galleries is possibly the strongest expression of architecture’s ability to reflect society’s values and culture.
Page has been privileged to collaborate with clients deeply committed to those values, with clear missions and bold ambitions to establish enduring legacies. Our expertise in design leadership and comprehensive project management has helped clients navigate every aspect of the design process, ensuring each step — from concept to ribbon cutting — aligns with mission and vision. Each project’s foundation is built on four fundamental considerations: Audience, Funding, Planning, and Architecture.
AUDIENCE: DESIGNING FOR VISITORS
Museums are social and cultural hubs, serving diverse communities and fostering dialogue and exchange. Page delights in challenging traditional notions of space, creating immersive environments, and encouraging exploration while aligning with your vision. To pave the way for more impactful visitor experiences, we seek answers to questions like: How do we prioritize visitor accessibility and representation? How will light, materiality, and spatial composition evoke emotional responses and enhance connection to art, history, and architecture? What’s the place of technology and digital experiences?
FUNDING: NAVIGATING FINANCIAL LANDSCAPES
Raising necessary funds is often the most significant challenge in museum projects. It’s a multifaceted process, including private donors, government agencies, institutional grants, and endowments. We assist clients in navigating this complex landscape by providing the necessary feasibility studies, documentation, and visualizations — from detailed renderings to physical models, animations, and website content. Throughout this process, we advocate for transparency to ensure broad support.
PLANNING: FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY
Visitor flow, exhibit layout, and back-of-house operations — there’s a balance between public experience and the operational needs of museums. Understanding projected visitor numbers helps us calculate the required capacity, flow of exhibition areas, and essential services. We’re also well-versed in the myriad technical requirements for accredited museums — including state-of-the-art building systems, lighting, handling procedures, and conservation labs — that are critical for ensuring valuable artifacts and documents remain intact for future generations.
ARCHITECTURE: CREATING INSPIRATIONAL SPACES
Can a building transform perspective? A museum should do more than house exhibits; it should enrich the community and invite participation in public life. We strive to create buildings that harmonize with their environment while embodying their mission, becoming landmarks that reflect and uphold the community's cultural values and artistic heritage. Each step of the design process is an opportunity to express the core of an institution’s mission and amplify its impact on visitors, encouraging them to carry inspiration into the broader world.
Page is passionate about transforming ideas into immersive, meaningful spaces that resonate with people. We believe museums and cultural institutions are more important for what they do — for the positive impact they make on individual lives — than for what they are. The diverse projects highlighted in the following pages — from highprofile landmarks like the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture and National September 11 Memorial Museum to smaller-scale galleries, renovations, and public spaces — share a core mission to engage, educate, and inspire the people who visit them. How can we Think What’s Possible to ensure our projects make lives better?
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is deeply intertwined with the nation’s cultural memory and emotional reaction to the events of September 11, 2001. Page (as Davis Brody Bond) served a dual role as Design Architect for the Memorial Museum and Associate Architect for the Memorial Plaza.
Locating the museum at the site of the event creates a vital link between honoring those who perished and preserving the historical narrative. But how do you create a space that resonates with those who lived through 9/11 while conveying the significance and impact to generations that didn’t witness the event firsthand?
A key component of the approach was to capture the site’s emotional gravity. During the initial stages, the team
New York, New York
Museum Section Looking North
observed hundreds gathered around the perimeter fence, drawn by an instinctual need to bear witness. This insight guided the team’s design philosophy: to create a space where visitors could engage with the memory of 9/11 in a personal and impactful way. The project involved regular consultations with diverse stakeholders — including victims' families, first responders, survivors, and local residents, as well as numerous local, state, and federal organizations — to ensure the design was inclusive and respectful of different perspectives.
Securing funding for the Museum was a complex process involving federal and state agencies, private donors, and significant individual contributions. The team collaborated closely with consultants and political strategists to align the museum’s design with the potential donor’s expectations without compromising the museum's mission.
The planning team conceptualized the museum's narrative and physical flow from the ground up, emphasizing three core elements: the void, representing the enormity of the loss; the witness, allowing visitors to see the site from a reflective distance; and the descent, a powerful journey into the heart of the museum. These drivers helped shape the approach to the museum’s layout and visitor experience.
Architecturally, the team created a meaningful and contemplative descent into the site. Concrete, both raw and polished, dominates the floors and walls of the 70-foot-deep excavation with two key features: the Tower Volumes and the Ribbon. The Tower Volumes align with the original Twin Towers' footprints, maintaining a connection to the site's history, while the Ribbon's ramped descent guides visitors to the bedrock level.
Observance and Homage
Inspired by the way visitors came to Ground Zero to pay witness in rituals of observance and homage, the project evolved into a series of spaces that evoke the scale of the loss and the still resonant physical impressions left by the towers.
Progressive Disclosure
The museum gradually introduces visitors through a ramped descent, providing a time and place for the reconnection to the site as its iconic features are progressively disclosed.
This ramp progressively reveals the space, providing visitors with a series of evolving perspectives, intentionally transforming visitors’ states of mind as they move from the busy world outside into a space of reflection and remembrance. Here, one experiences:
• Memory. Our individual memories of the WTC, the events of 9/11, and the country’s recovery shape our response to the site, artifacts, and exhibit.
• Authenticity. Located at the attack site, the museum, footprints, and original tower foundations create a deep connection to the events.
• Scale. The vastness of the spaces reinforces our connection to the original towers, the scale of the attack, and the fate of those who perished.
• Emotion. The museum provides space for private contemplation and acknowledges the need for a collective emotional response.
The Museum Is the Exhibit
The decision to locate this museum at the site of the event it interprets differentiates it from other museums and provides an important link between the act of memorializing and the provision of a narrative historical account of the event.
Cultural Memory
The architectural journey, supported by key artifacts and the in-situ remains of the Twin Towers, affords a uniquely personal encounter for each visitor.
The design journey, supported by key artifacts and the in situ remains of the Twin Towers, affords a uniquely personal encounter for each visitor, allowing one to reconnect with memories and emotions and help the next generation grasp the tragedy’s scale and the resilience of the human spirit.
MEMORIAL PLAZA
Situated directly above the museum, the 9/11 Memorial Plaza serves as another powerful tribute to the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11 attacks, providing a space for reflection, remembrance, and healing. Our executive work on the Memorial guided the design through numerous technical challenges. We applied our expertise to every aspect of the project, from configuring the bronze name parapets to perfecting the fountain geometry. We collaborated on materials, site fittings, and lighting and designed the mesh enclosures that integrate the west vent structures into the plaza.
The Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The National Museum of African American History and Culture celebrates the black community and the impact African Americans have had on the United States and the world. It operates simultaneously as a museum, a memorial, and a space for cross-cultural collaboration. Renowned architect J. Max Bond, Jr., co-founder of Davis Brody Bond, a Page Company, developed programming documents for the museum with Phil Freelon prior to assembling the winning design team, which included Sir David Adjaye; together they formed the Freelon Adjaye Bond / Smithgroup design collaboration that completed the landmark project.
The museum rethinks the role of civic institutions in the 21st century, offering new modes of user engagement. It presents a new form of museum: one that prioritizes cultural narrative and identity and gives form to untold stories, establishing an
Conceptual sketch, 2009 competition
empowering emotional context for positive social change. It provides a meaningful relationship to its unique site on the National Mall and a strong resonance with America’s deep and longstanding African heritage. The design rests on four cornerstones: (1) the Ascent, a bottom-to-top gallery relationship that provides visitors a chronological experience of past, present, and future as they ascend through the structure; (2) the Corona shape and form of the building, with its bronze filigree screen; (3) the Lenses framing views through the envelope; and (4) the Porch, which extends the building into the greenspace of the National Mall.
During the design and approval process, the building’s massing was refined to place the bulk of its 400,000 square-foot program below grade. The stacking of the building placed much of the non-daylit spaces 80 feet
below, including the centerpiece of the museum, the 50,000 square-foot main history gallery. Veiled by the exterior Corona, above-grade circulation is placed within a seven-story atrium to promote views of Washington DC monuments while contextually anchoring the museum within the greenspace of the National Mall.
Our scope in the design phases comprised over 60% of the museum, including the changing exhibition gallery, café, curatorial departments, collections, and back-of-house spaces that form the operating core of the museum and the 350-seat concert-class Oprah Winfrey Theater. We were also responsible for designing NMAAHC’s centerpiece History Gallery and accompanying Contemplative Court. During Construction Administration, our team led the efforts for all below-grade interior architecture.
Imagine a new form of museum — one that prioritizes cultural narrative and identity and gives form to untold stories, establishing an empowering emotional context for positive social change.
Ringing Out
President Obama helps ring a church bell that was one of many that rang out when President Lincoln freed the
Past, Present & Future
Much of the museum program is below grade, including its centerpiece, the main History Gallery. The bottom-to-top sequence provides a chronological experience of past, present, and future as one ascends through the structure.
Framing Views
A New Cultural Forum
The below-grade, 350-seat Oprah Winfrey theater hosts live performances, cinema, symposia, and other cultural events.
Veiled by the exterior Corona, above grade circulation promotes views of Washington DC monuments through the bronze filigree screen, while contextually anchoring the museum within the greenspace of the National Mall.
slaves.
The Cistern and Buffalo Bayou Park
Integrating the Landscape
The design team took a “less is more” approach to preserve The Cistern, the exterior of which disappears into the landscape like a low, flat hill. The visitor entrance is a curving tunnel with a soft, low line of LED lighting, allowing eyes to adjust slowly to the dark interior and to reduce abrupt light spoilage.
THE CISTERN
The City of Houston had already solicited bids to demolish the Cistern when the design team dropped through a roof hatch and viewed this magnificent space. The 87,500-square-foot former underground drinking water reservoir, built in 1927, had been out of service for years and the city was considering proposals for commercial uses of the space such as a parking garage. The designers saw one of the most powerful and memorable industrial structures ever built in the U.S. The vastness of the space, its complete darkness except for the modest dose of light introduced by open hatches, the rhythm of repetitive structural elements, and the reverberation time that magnifies sound all conspire to create an extraordinary experience.
The team proposed to repurpose the space as a visitor destination that could accommodate installation art — particularly light and sound. They worked with the nonprofit client Buffalo Bayou Partnership to find a way to save the Cistern with the help of the Houston Arts Alliance and funding from a prominent foundation. The team took a “less is more” approach to preserve The Cistern, the exterior of which disappears into the landscape like a low, flat hill. The visitor entrance is a curving tunnel with a soft, low line of LED lighting, allowing eyes to adjust slowly to the dark interior and to reduce abrupt light spoilage. The lighting from the tunnel continues into a transparent handrail along an unobtrusive walkway that was constructed around the interior perimeter. Four fire egress doors and two movable hatches in the roof permit adjustable penetration of natural light.
The space’s 8” thickened flat slab roof system is supported by 221 slender, round concrete columns with belled capitals and square bases. A constant depth of a few inches of water is maintained on the floor, creating dramatic reflections that emphasize the vastness of the space by making it seem double its actual height.
BUFFALO BAYOU PARK
Buffalo Bayou Park features two new buildings and two large pavilions that enhance the 2.3-mile, 160-acre park. Designed in collaboration with landscape architecture firm SWA, the project restores the natural landscape that was adversely affected by the channelization of the bayou six decades ago and focuses on “passive” recreation and destination points, such as hike and bike trails, a dog park, event venues and food service. The structures, from simple shade pavilions to larger amenity buildings, create landmarks and places of focus, while employing consistent architectural elements that visually connect the park from end to end between Lost Lake and Water Works.
American Museum of Natural History Gilder Center and Halls
of Gems & Minerals
An Evolving Campus
Since 1871, the American Museum of Natural History has continuously evolved into its current campus. Each addition embraces contemporary museum ideals while respecting the historic framework and material palette. The Gilder Center provides a western entry called for since the 1879 master plan with a stone exterior and cave-like shotcrete interior matching the Milford Pink Granite used in the 1936 Roosevelt Memorial entry.
GILDER CENTER FOR SCIENCE, EDUCATION, AND INNOVATION
Page, as Davis Brody Bond, was selected to serve as Executive Architect in collaboration with design architect Studio Gang on the AMNH’s new 203,000-square-foot, five-story Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Set into the Columbus Avenue side of the museum complex at 79th Street, the project invites visitors to experience the museum as not only a place of public exhibitions but also an active scientific and educational institution. At a time of urgent need to enhance the public understanding of science, the Gilder Center will expand access to the beloved institution's resources for students, teachers, and families, offering new learning opportunities (including STEM education programs) and inviting visitors from all walks of life to share in the excitement of discovery. The project includes exhibition galleries, state-of-the-art classrooms, an immersive theater, a redesigned library, and a newly revealed Collections Core.
Conceived in the museum’s original master plan as crossaxis connecting galleries, the Gilder Center was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and incorporates sustainable strategies such as reduced energy-consuming lighting design, efficient landscaping, and water conservation initiatives. Informed by aeolian processes found in nature, the Central Exhibition Hall creates a continuous, “windswept” spatial experience flowing along an east-west axis from the Museum’s new Columbus Avenue entrance. The sinuous forms of the space encourage visitors to move beneath and across connective bridges and along sculpted walls with openings that progressively reveal the museum’s myriad natural treasures.
MIGNONE HALLS OF GEMS AND MINERALS
In collaboration with award-winning exhibit designers Ralph Appelbaum Associates, we developed a comprehensive design vision for a new signature exhibition as part of a renovation of the AMNH Hall of Gems and Minerals. The project is one of a series of architectural and programmatic enhancements to the cherished New York City institution leading up to its 150th anniversary and the opening of the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The new space provides a suitably stunning home for the Museum’s expansive collection of 115,000 mineral specimens and 4,500 gems, only a fraction of which had been on display.
“Whether you’re talking about the spectacular 563-carat Star of India sapphire or the unique almandine ‘subway garnet’ unearthed in New York City in 1885, the AMNH is known for having one of the most spectacular and comprehensive collections of gems and minerals in the world,” said Museum President Ellen Futter. “Our new exhibits will allow us to tell how the story of minerals is linked with their natural environment and biology on the one hand and with culture and technology on the other,” wrote Project Curator George Harlow.
The Museum’s goal was to transform the 11,500-squarefoot hall into a must-see destination that will educate and delight the next generation of diverse visitors. To this end, the design team held multiple workshops with the AMNH executive team and key staff; toured the back-of-house to inform physical design concepts; reviewed the Museum’s collections to determine iconic specimens; developed a prioritized list and budget for the acquisition of additional large-scale specimens from around the world; and addressed the institution’s myriad technical, infrastructural, and security requirements.
The completed space represents a dramatic transformation from the aesthetically and technologically outdated space that existed before. While the halls previously formed a culde-sac, they now provide a glamorous portal to the other exhibit halls. The overall design restores the hall’s original architectural character, recapturing its axial formality while opening up the space and modernizing its infrastructure. New durable flooring accommodates power and data distribution as well as the needs of special events. The ceiling has been replaced to allow for HVAC distribution and finished with decorative beams, coffers, and column capitals.
MIGNONE HALLS OF GEMS & MINERALS
It Takes a Team
Our design team closely collaborated with Ralph Appelbaum Associates to create a series of display cases and platforms that would showcase the various minerals, stones, and gems in AMNH's collection. One primary concern was the structural capacity of the existing slab and structure to support the heavy, large-scale geospecimens that were to be on permanent display. This effort required the active participation of museum staff, the architect and exhibit designer, structural and MEP engineers, and the construction manager.
Columbia University
Lenfest Center for the Arts and
Wallach Art Gallery
Leftest Center for the Arts
Floor
Columbia University has entrusted us with their architectural needs for the past 25 years, comprising over 20 projects from master planning and programming studies to renovations and the design of new facilities. For the past 11 years, we have been working on the planning and development of their Manhattanville campus, a three-phase new graduate student campus located in northern Manhattan. When fully realized, this new 17-acre urban academic environment will include more than 6.8M square feet of space for teaching, research, civic, cultural, recreational, and commercial activity. Page served as the Executive Architect for Renzo Piano Design Workshop (RPBW) on the first group of buildings for the University’s new Manhattanville campus.
The Lenfest Center for the Arts is part of Phase 1 of the master plan, serving multiple functions to accommodate Columbia’s cutting-edge arts program. The venue contains a state-of-the-art 150-person film screening room, a 120-person flexible performance black box theater, and rehearsal space, as well as an event space on the top floor. The team employed a “box within a box” concept and floating slab technology to achieve complete structural and acoustic isolation from one space to the next.
The Center also houses the prestigious Wallach Art Gallery, the University's premier public visual arts space. The Wallach Gallery serves as a laboratory and a forum, offering opportunities for curatorial practice and discourse, and bridging the diverse artistic approaches at the University with a broader public audience.
Planning for the Arts
The School of the Arts at Columbia University engaged us to prepare a study to help the school to meet current spatial shortfalls and reduce its reliance on rented venues. The proposed plan included the development of a new building, the “Lantern," which would contain flexible performance space, screening rooms for film, rehearsal space, and a gallery for art exhibition. The Lantern found its final form in the Lenfest Center for the Arts.
Columbia University School ofSpacetheArts
of the Arts Planning Study (Click to page through complete document)
Lenfest Center for the Arts Black Box Theater
Top Floor Flexible Skylight Gallery Event Space Configuration
Lenfest Center for the Arts (left) Jerome L. Greene Science Center (right)
School
The Frick Collection Master Plan and Portico Gallery
Designed by Carrère and Hastings and built in 1914, the Frick Collection houses the collection of Western painting, sculpture, and decorative art established by Henry Clay Frick.
MASTER PLAN
The Frick engaged us to develop a Master Plan to address their mission, goals, and the challenges presented by a major New York City museum occupying a gilded age mansion. Our goal was to provide additional space with minimal architectural interventions to the building’s historic envelope and to preserve the visitor experience of entering a gilded age mansion. The museum's capacity for expansion was limited by its constrained site and protected landmark status. We began by examining existing conditions and identifying underutilized spaces which could be reprogrammed to better serve the institution’s current and future needs.
New York, New York
As part of the Master Plan, we developed a full program of space requirements and then explored ways to optimize use of space, including sharing functions and creating multipurpose spaces, since the available capacity for expansion was limited. Our study also focused on enhancing the visitors’ experience by looking for opportunities to expand access to historic spaces that were previously back of house. The Master Plan also identified potential expansion options, the first of which was the Portico Gallery.
PORTICO GALLERY
The first expansion of the Frick in 35 years, the Portico Gallery transformed a previously inaccessible exterior loggia facing the Fifth Avenue Garden into a new interior gallery for the display of sculpture and porcelain. The design carefully preserves the original character of the loggia as an outdoor
space, incorporating its distinctive colonnade, bluestone floor, exterior limestone walls, and bas-reliefs. Exhibit lighting is concealed within the wood and bronze frames of the new enclosure, while ambient light is provided by four new lanterns that match the fixtures in the Frick’s Garden Court. A Low-E glass coating and motorized screens on solar sensors provide additional light control. The resulting space is filled with natural light and evokes the sense of being outdoors.
To minimize the architectural impact of the new glazing, fourteen-foot-high, self-supporting structural glass panels extend along the south-facing colonnade resulting in minimal interference and attachment to the historic fabric. These large glass panels visually open the space to the Fifth Avenue Garden and, for the first time, afford the visitor the opportunity to experience the garden from the loggia.
Section Looking West
Portico
Minimizing Building Impact
To reduce the architectural impact of the new glazing, 14' high, selfsupporting structural glass panels extend along the Frick's south-facing colonnade, resulting in minimal interference with the historic fabric.
Visibility from the Street
The large glass panels visually open the space to the Fifth Avenue Garden, and, for the first time, afford the visitor the opportunity to experience the garden from the loggia.
before
Section elevation
Austin, Texas
Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum
Located at the edge of Zilker Park, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden is a large, naturally landscaped garden housing the sculpture of local artist, Charles Umlauf. The Visitors’ Center acts as a buffer separating the street and parking area to its south side from the protected gardens to the north, housing art works that require weather protection as well as support facilities for the gardens.
The building is composed of two distinct volumes. On the south side, a long, thin stone volume with a wide sallyport puncturing its center creates a dramatic gateway to the gardens. This volume contains a media room, library, rest rooms, kitchen, and other support functions which needed little exposure. On the north side, an even larger open frame volume houses indoor and outdoor gallery spaces.
A grand, generous porch comprises half of this volume, opening to a terrace on the east and to the broad expanse of the gardens to the north. The expression of the building is quiet and understated to focus attention on the gardens and the works of art. Materials in the building are predominately native limestone for the walls, natural-finished wood for the frame, and brick pavers for the floor. The gabled roof of the frame volume is galvanized metal.
More recently, the team worked with the Umlauf staff to develop a conceptual master plan for the expansion of the museum’s facilities. The proposed facilities include expanded gallery space, educational classrooms, dedicated indoor and outdoor event space, an additional administrative area, and associated structured parking. New buildings were laid out to create an intimate entry court and to respect the rich topography and vegetation of the existing site.
Site Plan
Uncut Gems
At the American Museum of Natural History's Halls of Gems and Minerals, two amethyst geodes from Uruguay, 8- and 12-foot tall, sparkle in incandescent bright purple. We worked with exhibit designers RAA to overcome technical challenges (storage, transport, structure, lighting, e.g.) and allow the public to view these remarkable gems for the first time.
Programming and Visioning Documents
Pre-design work for our diverse clientèle — including visioning, feasibility reviews, planning, conceptual designs, site analysis, and programming studies — is grounded in careful listening and close collaboration. (Click thumbnails at right to virtually page through complete pre-design documents online, and see p. 41 for a more expansive list).
From Vision to Visitor Experience Working with museums to realize their visions from initial concepts and public outreach to next-gen design, storage,
and display
VISIONING, PROGRAMMING, PUBLIC OUTREACH, AND STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
A need. A spark. The seed of inspiration. Every museum and gallery project starts with a creative vision. Museums begin by recognizing a civic need to preserve and present significant aspects of a community’s heritage. They identify cultural gaps, seeking to celebrate and maintain the diverse art, traditions, and stories that define a community.
Architecture in the public realm has been a significant part of our practice for decades. From the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and beyond, we have been privileged to help focus a project’s genesis, partnering with visionaries and decision-makers to develop priorities and goals.
Visioning, grounded in listening and collaboration, is a critical exercise that defines and clarifies the overriding values governing an institution and shaping its evolution. As part of this process, we perform feasibility reviews, planning, and conceptual designs, digging into detailed site assessments and analyzing programmatic requirements.
Museum and gallery visioning and programming involves significant public involvement and investment. We have a proven track record of working with multiple user groups and complex constituencies. The 9/11 Museum, for example, involved more than 100 stakeholders. Engaging with diverse groups, including survivors, families, federal agencies, and community leaders, ensured the project honored multiple perspectives, balancing differing priorities and insights to develop a collective vision for a meaningful and respectful tribute.
Unbiased collaboration and the open exchange of ideas lead to the most fruitful projects. So, the selection of the Core Team is of utmost importance. As designers, we are responsible for facilitating, listening to, and incorporating the discussion between expert consultants and user groups into a final design while coordinating closely with the museum’s directors and curatorial and educational teams. We select Core Team members based on their expert knowledge in their field, our past collaborations, their portfolio, and their contemporary viewpoint about art, public space, urbanism, access, equity, and sustainability.
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is an excellent example of successful collaboration. In association with the Freelon Group, we developed the Pre-Design and Programming report that defined the needs of a new national museum. Leading nearly 20 consultants, our team worked collaboratively with Smithsonian representatives from various disciplines to produce a comprehensive 1,200-page, sixvolume document. Through a dynamic and flexible process, our work plan included exhibition master plan workshops with museum staff exploring core statements, themes, and strategies to provide a dynamic visitor experience.
In the Design Development phase, initial concepts undergo refinement and detailing. This stage involves creating comprehensive drawings and specifications while coordinating with engineers and consultants to integrate all building systems seamlessly. Preservation and modernization can also play pivotal roles in this process. By embracing a blend of tradition and innovation, we can protect, store, and display priceless art and objects while creating dynamic exhibition layouts that engage and immerse visitors.
State-of-the-Art Exhibition
Space
Museums must adapt to the demands of the contemporary visitor. Modernization efforts incorporate innovative technologies and interactive experiences to engage audiences and make art and history come alive in new and exciting ways. From digital archives to immersive exhibits, these enhancements enrich the visitor experience while respecting the authenticity of the artifacts on display.
Storing the Collection
For the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, our team provided comprehensive architecture and engineering design services to bring the extensive archives up to code and meet the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) standards for environmentally-controlled storage spaces.
We pride ourselves on working closely with exhibit and interpretive designers. As part of the design team for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Museum of History and Culture, we listened, discussed, and researched with the museum and exhibit designers Amaze Design and RAA to refine the visitor experience, identify themes, and reinforce the core messages for the exhibitions.
Modernizing Cultural Landmarks
We led the restoration, adaptive reuse, and expansion of the NY Public Library, a landmarked Carrère and Hastings structure built in 1911. We proposed a multiphased Master Plan to return the grand spaces of the building to the public while creating state-of-the-art environmental and information retrieval systems.
Selecting & Preserving Artifacts
Our involvement with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum began just days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, with Principal Mark Wagner's role as Project Architect for the WTC Archive, a project involving the on-site selection and subsequent preservation of historic artifacts from Ground Zero. (Pictured: artifacts at Hangar 17, JFK Airport).
As stewards of culture and history, museums face the dual challenge of maintaining the integrity of collections while remaining relevant in an ever-changing world.
PRESERVATION & MODERNIZATION — PROTECTING THE PAST, DESIGNING FOR THE FUTURE
Balance is the cornerstone of museum modernization and preservation efforts. As stewards of culture and history, museums face the dual challenge of maintaining the integrity of collections while remaining relevant in an ever-changing world. Page has a long history of helping clients achieve both.
Museums are built upon the principle of preservation, safeguarding artifacts for future generations. It involves meticulous care and conservation techniques to protect artifacts and documents from the ravages of time. Climate control systems, careful handling procedures, and conservation labs are all integral to this endeavor, ensuring that precious items remain intact for future generations.
As an interdisciplinary design firm, Page has played a crucial role in integrating these preservation principles into museum designs, ensuring functionality and cultural preservation.
National Park Service, Ellis Island Storage Phasing Strategy
The team worked with the NPS to identify and document design solutions for the longterm storage, stabilization, and protection of the collections at Ellis Island — including the evaluation of collection management and storage of over one million historic artifacts.
Our involvement with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum began just days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, with Principal Mark Wagner's role as Project Architect for the World Trade Center Archive, a project involving the on-site selection and subsequent preservation of historic artifacts from Ground Zero. Through his understanding of objects, their importance as historic artifacts, and their ability to allow us to connect to history and memory, over 1000 artifacts were recovered, many of which are now part of the permanent collection. During the design and construction phases of the project we actively engaged with clients, stakeholders, and the exhibit design team on major decisions about large artifact placement and in-situ artifacts which were incorporated into the architecture of the museum.
INNOVATIVE & INTERACTIVE
Museums of the 21st century must adapt to the evolving needs of the contemporary visitor. Modernization strategies incorporate innovative technologies, multi-media, and interactive experiences to engage audiences and make art and history come alive in new and exciting ways. From digital archives to immersive exhibits, these enhancements enrich the visitor experience while respecting the authenticity of the artifacts on display.
We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with exhibit and interpretive designers. As part of the design team for the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American Museum of History and Culture, we worked with Amaze Design and Ralph Appelbaum Associates to develop the exhibit master plan. We listened, discussed, and researched with the museum and the Smithsonian to refine the visitor experience, identify themes, and reinforce the core messages for the exhibitions. We oversaw the design of the History Galleries that comprise 50% of the exhibit space. The result: a deeply immersive and educational journey through African American history, enriched by state-of-the-art technology and thoughtful exhibit design, offering visitors an engaging and meaningful experience.
ARTFUL SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
Modernization also embraces the artful integration of new engineering systems into existing facilities, such as climate control and lighting solutions, to ensure optimal conditions while enhancing the visitor experience.
When we think about our work at the Frick Collection, the Portico Gallery stands out as an example of sensitively integrating modern technologies into a historic structure. The team began by researching what the original architect, Thomas Hastings, might have done if he were undertaking this project today. Collaborating closely with our preservation specialist, Bill Higgins, with Higgins Quasebarth & Partners LLC, we delved into Hastings’ innovative approach to architecture, noting his penchant for using the most advanced materials of his time.
This research guided us in selecting contemporary materials that harmonize with the historical context and reusing existing historic elements in new ways. We repurposed the original floor grills, which allowed minimal light into the subbasement, to serve as outlets for our modern mechanical distribution system. This thoughtful integration enabled us to meet current needs while preserving the integrity and character of the historic envelope.
As we navigate the delicate balance between preservation and modernization, we recognize the pivotal role of branding and experiential graphic design in articulating and enhancing the museum's identity. This is where Page/Branding & Graphics and the Design Exchange step in.
Selected Museum Design Proposals, Plans, Studies, and Vision Documents (Click hyperlinks to virtually page through complete documents online)
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture 2009 Competition Companion Document
• Smithsonian NMAAHC Programming Studies Volumes 1 2 3 4 5 6
• Columbia University School of the Arts Planning Study
• Irish Arts Center, New York, New York Phase II Due Diligence and Feasibility Study
• Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA NOMI) Vision Document
• National Medal of Honor Museum, Arlington, Texas Design Proposal and Final Presentation
• National Park Service Ramsey House, Knoxville,Tennessee Space Planning & Programming Study
• National Park Service Cedar Creek & Belle Grove, Middletown, Virginia Space Planning & Programming Study
• National Park Service, Coltsville Armory, Hartford, Connecticut, Space Planning & Feasibility Study
• National Park Service, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, Kinderhook, New York Planning & Programming Study
• Olana State Historic Site, The Olana Center, Hudson, New York, Design Services Proposal
• Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York RFP Phase Design Proposal
• Yunnan Museum, Kunming City, China General Design Proposal
2009 competition model
Smithsonian NMAAHC Washington, DC
Conceptual rendering National Great Blacks in Wax Museum Baltimore, Maryland
Conceptual interior rendering National Medal of Honor Museum Arlington, Texas
Signage and experiential graphics
Georgia Museum of Art Athens, Georgia
Wayfinding and donor recognition
Pease Park Kingsbury Commons Austin, Texas
EXPERIENCE. IDENTITY. DESIGN. CREATIVE SUPPORT FOR BRANDING, WAYFINDING, FUNDRAISING, AND PLACEMAKING
Experience, identity, and design are intricately interwoven in museum projects, driving our holistic approach to creative support. Our Branding & Graphics team converges with the Design Exchange to craft compelling narratives and transformative spaces.
Branding & Graphics is Page’s in-house studio that creates strong and authentic brand experiences, articulating a vision and extending a brand promise to print, digital, and built environments. The team collaborates across disciplines by problem-solving with other Page groups, including architecture, interior architecture, campus
Experiential graphics and donor recognition
San Antonio Botanical Garden Society
San Antonio, Texas
PIONEERING NEW APPROACHES
Embedded in our practice is the Design Exchange, a group comprising five teams: Building Sciences, Fabrication, Tech Lab, Studio X, and Storytelling. These teams work together, mixing traditional craft with leading-edge technology to enable us to dig into your design challenges and pioneer new approaches for your project. They champion higherperforming, healthier, more resilient buildings and offer prototyping for proof of concept and materials testing. They also help clients discover new ways to visualize, study, share, and, most importantly, experience projects — essential for fundraising and public outreach initiatives.
Together, these teams offer you the talent, ideas, rigor, and energy to innovate and co-create something new — to Think What’s Possible for your project.
The Page Branding & Graphics team worked with Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, Little Rock on a comprehensive graphics package (including print graphics, naming and branding, experiential graphics, and donor recognition) that conveyed their
A/MFA Experiential Graphics, Wayfinding, and Donor Recognition Page's graphics and wayfinding for the A/ MFA promote an inclusive cultural space for the community and visitors alike, aligning with the museum's transformative renovation and new building (designed by Studio Gang) through elegant typography and the graceful interplay of light, space, material, and form.
Museum Design Leaders
Mark Wagner
With more than 30 years as a professional architect, Mark has extensive experience and a keen insight into the design of cultural projects. His passion for comprehensive, thoughtful design solutions and ability to navigate complex challenges has placed him in the leadership role of some of the firm's most noteworthy cultural projects. He successfully shepherds projects from initial planning and conceptualization to award-winning built outcomes. Mark’s practice centers on experience-based design, focusing on human interaction with space and context to create environments which serve the mission of an institution and find their place in the surrounding community to which they ultimately belong.
Significant projects: National September 11 Museum New York, NY • American Museum of Natural History, Halls of Gems and Minerals & Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation New York, NY • The Frick Collection Master Plan and Portico Gallery New York, NY • US National Park Service Five -Year Contract Multiple Locations
Larry Speck
Speck
Larry has gained national and international recognition for his work’s technological sophistication and responsiveness to specific climates, cultures, and landscape character. He prides himself in the diversity of his projects, with no attempt to establish personal stylistic consistency. The structures and places that result are overt embodiments of the specific programs, building types, site characteristics and locales that define them. Over the last years he has won 29 national design awards, 17 state design awards, and 55 local design awards. He is also a well-known design educator who served as Dean of the School of Architecture at University of Texas at Austin from 1992-2001.
Carla Fraser MPA
Significant projects: Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum Austin, Texas • Town Lake Comprehensive Master Plan Austin, Texas • Architecture of Buffalo Bayou Park Houston, Texas • Museum of the Big Bend Expansion Alpine, Texas • Ruby Hotel Round Rock, Texas • 200 West 6th Street Historic Post Office Austin, Texas Principal, Branding & Graphics
Carla, director of the branding & graphics team, is a brand strategy and cultural change management expert with more than a decade of experience. She was co-founder of Dyal and Partners where she also oversaw the development of visual identities and brands— expressed via wayfinding systems, architectural graphics and signage, exhibits, retail design, and experiential spaces — across a wide range of client industries. She co-founded the Pecha Kucha Austin chapter, a Tokyo-based group which creates an organized opportunity for creative types to engage and learn from each other. Local associations and non-profits have benefited from her public policy and organizational change skills.
Significant projects: Pease Park Kingsbury Commons, Wayfinding and Donor Recognition Austin, Texas • Hemisfair Park, Yanaguana Gardens, Signage and Donor Recognition San Antonio, Texas • San Antonio Botanical Gardens, Wayfinding and Donor Recognition San Antonio, Texas • The Blanton Museum of Art, Brand Identity Austin, Texas
AIA, LEED AP
As an architect with 25 years of experience, Debbie feels incredibly fortunate to be a part of the building community and process, touching projects and places left behind by others and giving them renewed life for clients who see their value and want to inhabit them. Some are deeply meaningful places rooted in our architectural or cultural history; others are everyday places that have lost their luster and no longer fulfill minimum requirements. As part of Page’s modernization team, Debbie works on projects spanning the restoration of the “Castle” at the Smithsonian to repurposing an abandoned building for a new use. Her projects stand the test of time and — in their presence and built form — reflect our collective continuum over time.
Significant projects: Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) Restoration Washington, DC • Georgia College & State University, Andalusia Interpretive Center Milledgeville, Georgia • US National Park Service, Renovation and Adaptive Re-Use Multiple Locations Nationwide
Associate Principal Deborah Fritz
Celebrating 125 Years of Civic & Cultural Excellence
More than 30 Visionary Museum Projects & Facilities
More Than 1,400 Collaborative Leaders
45 Million Gross Square Feet LEED Certified Projects
268 Certified LEED Projects 98 Certification Projects in Progress
21 Design-Led Offices Nationwide and in Mexico City
Selected Museum and Cultural Clients
• American Museum of Natural History / New York, New York
• National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation / New York, New York
• Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture / Washington, DC
• Smithsonian Institution Revitalization of the Historic Core / Washington, DC
• The National Mall Trust / Washington, DC
• Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts / Washington, DC
• New York Public Library / New York, New York
• Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, NARA / Abilene, Kansas
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library and Museum, NARA / Hyde Park, New York
• John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, NARA / Boston, Massachusetts
• US Department of the Interior, National Park Service / Multiple locations nationwide
• Amon Carter Museum / Fort Worth, Texas
• Battery Bluff Park / San Francisco, California
• Battery Park NYPD Memorial / New York, New York
• Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University / Kennesaw, Georgia
• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute / Birmingham, Alabama
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden / Brooklyn, New York
• Buffalo Bayou Park & The Cistern / Houston Arts Alliance / Houston, TX
• Columbia University, Lenfest Center for the Arts & Wallach Gallery / New York, NY
• Discovery Green Conservancy / Houston, Texas
• The Frick Collection / New York, New York
• Georgia Museum of Art / Athens, Georgia
• Houston Museum of Natural Science / Houston, Texas
• Kennesaw State University Museum / Kennesaw, Georgia
• Library of Congress Film Processing Laboratory, National Audio/Visual Conservation Center / Culpeper, Virginia
• Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Arts Center at Governors Island / New York, NY
• Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Education Center / New York, New York
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change / Atlanta, Georgia
• Museum of the Big Bend, Texas State University System / Alpine, Texas
• Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA NOMI) / North Miami, Florida
• Museum of Modern Art / New York, New York
• North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Bioquest II / Durham, North Carolina
• The Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) / New York, NY
• Pan American Performing Arts Center, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley / Edinburg, Texas
• Prince Georges African American Museum & Cultural Center / North Brentwood, Maryland
• Texas Institute for Preservation of History & Culture Museum / Prairie View, Texas
• Tisch School of the Arts and Steinhardt School of Music, New York University / New York, New York
• Umlauf Sculpture Garden + Museum / Austin, Texas
• West Virginia University / CSA: Art Museum and InterProfessional Education / Morgantown, West Virginia
Selected Branding and Graphics Clients
• Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts / Little Rock, Arkansas
• The Blanton Museum of Art / Austin, Texas
• Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites, UPenn School of Design / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Dallas Museum of Art / Dallas, Texas
• Hemisfair, Yanaguana Gardens and Civic Park, HPARC / San Antonio, Texas
• Pease Park Conservancy / Austin, Texas
• San Antonio Botanical Gardens / San Antonio, Texas
• San Antonio Museum of Art / San Antonio, Texas
Architecture Master Planning
Visioning
Programming
Archiving / Collection Management
Preservation / Modernization
Community Engagement
Branding
Experiential Graphic Design Signage / Wayfinding
With inquiries, contact:
Mark Wagner AIA
Principal, Cultural Projects mwagner@pagethink.com 212 633 4727
Larry Speck FAIA
Principal, Design Director lspeck@pagethink.com 512 382 3488
Carla Fraser MPA
Principal & Director, Branding & Graphics cfraser@pagethink.com 512 382 3582
Deborah Fritz AIA, LEED AP Associate Principal dfritz@pagethink.com 404 920 5791
