Role

Experience Designer
3D Artist

Scope

Full digital exhibit concept

Tools

Blender
Adobe Suite

The Project

The Project

A Mission of Molds:

A Mission of Molds:

I set out to share the wonderful world of fungi through the format of a children’s museum exhibit. One that transforms these traditionally overlooked and often misunderstood mushrooms and molds into a whimsical, cute, and engaging experience.

I set out to share the wonderful world of fungi through the format of a children’s museum exhibit. One that transforms these traditionally overlooked and often misunderstood mushrooms and molds into a whimsical, cute, and engaging experience.

The Process

The Process

The Process

Constraints

This project was designed to fit within Riedman Gallery at Rochester Museum and Science Center. It was important to me to challenge myself to be able to transform an existing space as opposed to designing a flow from scratch.

Overview

Though the gallery is great as one open space, I wanted to constrain the space a bit by utilizing temporary walls. 

This was to focus the viewer into three independent sections and increase immersion by forcing the viewer closer 

to each element.

Flow

The flow was designed to take you simultaneously from large to small scale as well as from familiar to unfamiliar.

Development

After solidifying the overarching structure of the exhibit, each room progressed through stages of sketching and blockouts then polishing with the finalized textures and lighting. For me the process begins and ends with 3D, ensuring that the dimension of the space is always at the forefront.

Final
Experience

Final
Experience

Final
Experience

Mushroom Room

Mushroom
Room

What’s a better way to explore how awesome mushrooms are than making them super sized? The first room of this exhibit features a play driven forest environment. The room is anchored by a large central tree that allows kids to interact directly with fungi’s main role in the ecosystem: feeding and recycling trees!

Mycelia Tunnel

Shrinking visitors down even smaller, they get to explore an underground world of growing mycelial networks. Nutrients represented by vibrant glowing displays traveling transporting nutrients back and forth. A compelling transition connecting mushrooms with their mold counterparts.

Mold Room

Going microscopic, what was once just a disgusting side effect of food spoiling become a truly beautiful and fun experience. Visitors use different mold plushies to interact with the environment and discover some of the good that molds can do.