Exhibition Design Portfolio

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sanah devika rao

design portfolio

2020 — 2022


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personal statement Sanah Devika Rao is an exhibition designer interested in narrating stories through the creation of physical and visual environments with interactive human experiences. She received her Bachelor of Design in Public Space Design from Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India (2019), and a Master of Design in Interior Studies: Exhibition Design & Narrative Environments from the Rhode Island School of Design (2022).


2020 — 2022

01 hush! southeast alaskan native monuments 4 - 15

02 risd museum 16 - 23

03 two voices, two centuries 24 - 37

04 re frame: intar bi[tri]ennial 38 - 41

05 conversations with lewitt 42 - 59

06 design icons 60 - 69


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Hush! Southeast Alaska Native Monuments Museum Design + Display + Community Narratives


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// Our goal is to support

contemporary discussions on national monuments through a display of indigenous monuments that balance grave subjects with resilience through Tlingit humour.

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We begin acknowledging this exhibit located in Auk’w Kwaán, or the ‘Little-Lake’ Tlingit Village. Their territory is now known as Juneau — the capital city of Alaska. This exhibit creates a site for discourse around ongoing colonial practices in SE Alaska, located on the land of the Auk’w Kwan.

exhibition design

curatorial: Breylan Martin & Miranda Worl, Brown University design: Sanah Devika Rao, Rhode Island School of Design skillset: Model Making / Rhino / VRay / After Effects / Adobe XD


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// context research + concept collage

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conceptual collage Traditional Tlingit Poles reclaim the land in monumental scale, while the underground weaves their identity - the struggle and vibrant tactile culture that gave birth to this land.

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form diagrams Traditional clan houses, Ovoid shape from formline design were used as inspiration for the form. The weaving, an essential craft of the Tlingit adds to the metaphor of the woven journey and is used as a craft technique for the exhibition furniture & panels.


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museum site plan The five Totem Poles are distributed in five cubes. They represent the different Tlingit narratives across the landscape. Inbetween them are open ceremonial spaces for future festivities by clan or resident gatherings.


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// curatorial + spatial program

1910

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City proposal to fill in the tide lands in front of Auk Village for a whites-only playground Secretary of Interior instructs Bureau of Education’s Supt. of Schools for Southeast Alaska to write to the Mayor and notify him that the tide lands are held in trust by the Federal Government and will remain so until statehood.

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1915 Road on pilings built in front of village.

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1930 — 1950’s The Tlingits decide to battle U.S. legislation. The people of Auk Kwan fought numerous battles in court in order to keep ownership of their land and protect it from city development.

1963

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Congress passes an Act “to authorize survey and establishment of a town site for the Juneau Indian Village” , effectively allowing for the disposal of the tide-lands.

1970

City development and forced removal of the Indian Village from the waterfront.

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cube 1 exhibition form + elements

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cube 1 plan

exhibition design


// structural detail + human scale experience

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museum structure + experience The structure is a conversation between the above ground and the underground level, as well as defining the forms of interaction with the totem pole from the perspective of the viewer.

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exhibition design


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// material + exhibition panel detail

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material axon

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traditional panel detail


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exhibition design


// human experience

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above ground experience

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Above you can see the third iteration of this pole, the first made in the late 19th century, and it will continue to be re-carved until Seward’s debt to the Tlingit is finally paid. The design highlights the temporary nature of the Shame Poles within a permenant exhibit. The ability to be removed and replaced as a comment on recurring contemporary issues about indigenous identity.

The view shows the panels in the exterior and the glass ovoid, which visitors can enter, wear headphones and listen to the story of the totem pole while looking up through the ceiling.

exhibition design

below ground experience

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RISD Museum Temporary + Permenant Exhibitions + Display Design


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// Planning and design of exhibitions in coordination with museum administrators, curators and graphic designers.

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Developing curatorial + design concepts in 3d Converting object checklists into 2d and 3d scaled model environments Planning and designing temporary exhibitions and permanent collection displays Updating museum gallery template models

exhibition design

role: Exhibition Design Graduate Assistant (10 months) skillset: Sketching / SketchUp 3D / Photoshop / Layout / On-Site Work mentor: Stephen Wing / swing@risd.edu


// 2D to 3D Design Layout

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Scaled Artwork for Physical Models Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability

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3D Modeling Art Objects RISD Museum Permenant Collection

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Gallery Elevation Views Extraordinary Realities:

1:1 Digital Gallery Models Extraordinary Realities: Shahzia Sikander

exhibition design

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Shahzia Sikander


// fabrication detail + on-site installation

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display detail Drawing Closer: Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum

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elevation views for installation

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spatial arrangement for

RISD Museum Permenant Collection

displays Inherent Vice

exhibition design


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// 3D concept + execution

Inherent Vice / Image Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI

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Extraordinary Realities: Shahzia Sikander / Image Courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI

exhibition design

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Two Voices, Two Centuries Design Proposal + Narrative Direction + Design Direction


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// An exhibition that revisits the

way that furniture is traditionally displayed. Thinking less about furniture pieces as aesthetic objects, this exhibition understands the function of furniture and the function of architecture as the same — they both create a space

—> Client: National Museum of Decorative Arts, Madrid, Spain

exhibition design proposal

design role: Narrative / Design Direction / Catalog / Concept Sketches curator: Alvaro Gomez-Selles Fernandez design collaborators: Grace Caiazza, Alana Cavalcanti, Esther Akintoye, Peter De Lande Long, EJ Roseman, Ding Xu, Liu Yang, Sen Chai and Meghan Strevig


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// context + curatorial

museum site

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former aristocratic house converted into a public museum for decorative arts. The aim is to unveil a new identity with the exhibition that attracts a younger audience.

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contemporary art galleries white box galleries devoid of the decorative character that is prevelant in the rest of the museum— showcasing period peices in period rooms. The aim is to create a new environment within this gallery.


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exhibition catalog a conversation between contemporary peices by upcoming Spanish designers, conversing besides classic Spanish furniture. Both created by hand centuries apart, moving away from the focus on industrialisation.

exhibition design proposal


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// individual design proposal

individual proposal with Grace Caiazza

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spatial approach enveloping spatial form inspired by a Spanish cathedral architecture and traditional interiors, where furniture was placed on the corner boundaries of the room along the walls.

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relation with object highlighting the tension and conversation between the classic and contemporary peices by displaying them facing each other. The displays were inspired by abstracting Spanish architectural forms.

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relation with viewer a linear experience divided by announcing lateral experiences to view different furniture peices in relation to one another. The displays varied in height depending on how the piece would be displayed in a traditional domestic setting.

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relation with existing the form gave the feeling of a space within a space, enveloping the objects, but also the body as it navigates the exhibition.

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materiality / expression

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the transparency of the enveloping wall gave context to the piece with a interior Spanish setting printed on it. It gave a dimension to the display as an extension of the interior — from a focused classic image blurring into abstraction.

spatial form + display


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blurring context context was given to the pieces by placing them with a backdrop of a traditional domestic interior. Just like the objects move from traditional to an assemblage of forms, the context shifts from focused to blurring spatial boundaries.

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interior view classic and contemporary displays facing each other, while announcing the next pair in the background

exhibition design proposal


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// collaborative design development

conversation

envelope

runway

reflection

—> apertures

combining collective proposals of all design collaborators


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concept one: furniture as architectural element

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exploring the relationship between furniture pieces as architectural elements that create a space. The prop inbetween them activates the tension between them.

plan iterations the various forms in the catalog are explored with relationship to the existing site.

exhibition design proposal


// spatial program + circulation

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concept two: breaking geometry

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fitting a new language into the existing space by imposing and breaking geometries.

concept three: continuous navigation creating an intuitive and continuous space through the use of environmental clusters.

exhibition design proposal


// material + fabrication

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concept four: abstracting form

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Recreating interior surfaces through abstracted and expressive materiality.

concept five: peeling transforming intervention geometries into an element that shapes and connects all architectural components: wall, floor and furniture.

exhibition design proposal


// sight lines + proposal overview

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aperture views overall views within the exhibition for each environment

sequence apertures

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the apertures announce the movement of the visitor from one environment to the next to the next pair. It supports the nature of intuitive movement in space.

expanding outward from the objects it contains, the exhibition spills into the museum at large, creating a domestic landscape that turns the inside out and makes the invisible visible.

exhibition design proposal

concept six: connecting scales

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Re-frame: Conversations in Contemporary Architecture Gallery Exhibition Design


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// As interior architects, we must

respond to existing spaces. but as out world continues to evolve, we must also respond to the changing social and political environments we live in. The works exhibiting reflect our students’ understanding of the need for design to be at the forefront of the discussion as society re-frames the status quo. Boldly approaching topics of climate change, placemaking, memorialization, and community building, students have demanded consequential action through their work.

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Client: Interior Architecture Department bi[tri]ennial 2021 Venue: woods gerry gallery, providence, RI exhibition design

lead: Francesca Liuni design role: Exhibition Curatorial timeline: 3 weeks design collaborators: Grace Caiazza, Priyata Bosamia, Gregory Mathieu, Natalia Silva, Jocelyn Yokow


// graphics + spatial program

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laser cut graphic detail

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interactive content panels, each with a question about the topic that prompts the visitor to write their response.

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exhibition layout inspired by the pinakothek, the architectural drawings re-frame the narrative of architecture through drawings + cardboard pedestals of three different heights, serve as pixels of pedestals arranged in different configurations on site for the models.

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exhibition design


// concept execution

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exhibition design


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Conversations with Lewitt Exhibition Design + Graphic Design + User Prototype


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// The exhibition experience introduces Sol Lewitts’ life and artist process, where spatial form, movement and interaction activates the space between the art, artist and the visitor. Objectives:

—> Visitors understand conceptual art —> Visitors learn about artist process & ideation

Inspire accessibility towards a contemporary art gallery experience

exhibition design

skillset: Model Making / Rhino / VRay / After Effects / Adobe XD


// context research + collaterals

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first person curatorial Personal curatorial inspired from Between the lines. The notes, ideas, scribbles give an interesting insight into the way the artist thinks, and builds a relationship with the audience.

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site analysis The location, Met Breuer, also known as the Inverted Ziggurat was chosen on the basis of Sol Lewitts’ critique on the building itself. He compared the rigid code and originality of design to his own conceptual practice.

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exhibition exploration guide A support to explore and leave with the understanding of the relationship between art and space by creating a dialogue between the two.

exhibition design


// digital media interface

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exhibition digital tool-kit Interactive interface to re-draw Sol Lewitts work to understand the ‘idea’ is the machine that makes the art.

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user prototype tests Interactive interface to re-draw Sol Lewitts work to understand the ‘idea’ is the machine that makes the art.

exhibition design


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// design development

The area of Manhattan Between the Places I Have Lived is Removed, Sol Lewitt, 1980

forms derived from a cube, Sol Lewitt

wayfinding elementary visual units + crossing architectural boundaries

urban // city grid

plot grid system

2d to 3d abstraction of forms on different axis in space (inverting Lewitts’ 3d to a 2d plane)

circulation serial movement + order

gallery grid system

figure vs ground relationship

9 gallery spaces matrix + grid system


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form + program

concept + material

Abstraction of 2d to 3d – asymmetric shape on a 9 grid system in the gallery space, not adhering to the architectural boundaries of the gallery.

pre-cast concrete gallery coffered ceiling

balsa + birch wood modular furniture + vitrine displays

bluestone gallery flooring

cork board display walls

aluminum + steel wireframe coated blue

paint + white enamel coating

vinyl floor graphics

projected textures exhibition design

digital tool-kit

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// curatorial

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curatorial plan


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exhibition catalog

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(1928 – 1960)

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(1960 – 1968)

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(1960 – 1968)

4 (1968 – 1981)

5 (1970 – 1988)

introduction to sol lewitt

structures by sol lewitt

introduction to wall drawings

cube variations

6 (1976 – 1981)

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(1981 – 1990)

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(1960 – 1968)

toolkit + isometric wall drawings

sol lewitt + architecture

exhibition design

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art books


// visitor circulation + exhibition program


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didactic serial experience

interactive book + reading space

exhibition design

participatory digital tool-kit


// detail + fabrication drawings

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wireframe + vitrine detail wireframe joints

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interactive reading experience activated qr code to scan artist books and read on site

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audio spotlight activated when the visitor stands underneath to hear the first person curatorial

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wireframe suspension + track lighting suspension

exhibition design


// concept Renderings + visual experience

entrance + gallery one

interior gallery framing exterior context

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interactive reading space

exhibition design

digital tool-kit display


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Design Icons: A Timeline of Furniture Masterpieces Graphic Design + Motion Animation


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// The exhibition explores the

implementation of graphic techniques as a way-finding tool and display strategy to highlight curatorial narrative, visitor movement and spatial program.

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Motion Graphic: https://vimeo.com/527048497

graphic design for exhibitions

skillset: Sketching / Adobe Suite / Rhino / After Effects / Typography


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// concept + motion graphic

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typface + color palette

1900

The colors represent a specific year in the history of furniture starting from 1900 — 2020. They guide the visitor starting from the glass panel outside, inwards and towards theentrance of the exhibit. Continuing from the main wall, onto the floor

1920

they help the visitor find their way to the panels and exhibit of each piece. 1930

UNIVERS LT STD 65 BOLD

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO P Q R ST U V W XY Z abcdefghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz

1940

1950

0123456789

1960

HELVETICA NEUE REGULAR

1970

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO PQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmno pqrstuvwxyz 0123456789

1980

1990


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motion graphic storyboard created using Illustrator and then transferred to After Effects for animation

graphic design exhibition for exhibitions design

exhibition invite

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// graphic collaterals + visual experience

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idea sketches + panel graphics

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3d concept rendering

design development of panel

application of the 2d designed

graphics and exhibition program

panel onto Rhino to test the idea

B

A

B


2 ft 11 in

6 ft

graphic design exhibition for exhibitions design

14 ft

06 65


// graphic + spatial program

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exhibition graphic layout floorplan for the program and placement of graphics in relation to the existing gallery space

graphic design for exhibitions

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// model making + design concept

physical model scaled and printed graphics to test and present the idea with modeled display furniture pieces.

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graphic design exhibition for exhibitions design


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sanah devika rao design portfolio

sanahrao@gmail.com / www.sanahdevikarao.com


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