Story-Based Design, with Alan Reed

Making the Museum

Can a building tell a story?

How do you design a glass wall to be ... mist? What if architecture, landscape, and exhibitions were all thought of as one thing? What changes when you etch barbed wire into a handrail? How can the floor plan of an entire museum relate to a nautilus shell? What does “A.D.R.O.I.T.” stand for? We’re going to find out, so notebooks at the ready.

Alan Reed, FAIA, LEED AP (President and Design Principal of GWWO Architects), joins MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss “Story-Based Design.”

Along the way: dendrites, neurons, Seminole history, and a famous mathematical sequence that goes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 …

Talking Points:

1. What is Story-Based Design?

2. Do the Research

3. Define the Essence

4. One Experience: Architecture + Landscape + Exhibitions

5. Intuitive Wayfinding: A.D.R.O.I.T.

6. Materials Matter, Down to the Details

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Guest Bio:

Alan Reed, FAIA, LEED AP is President and Design Principal of GWWO Architects. Alan has focused his career on the planning and design of facilities that engage users, foster interaction, and enhance communities. Alan is a regular speaker on issues related to museum and interpretive facility design. He has spoken at numerous conferences, on many panels, and for many organization events including the National Association for Interpretation Conference, Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Conference, Southeastern Museums Conference, and Building Museums Symposium. His work has been featured by Architectural Record and Metropolis, among other publications, and has received accolades at the national, regional, and local levels.
About MtM:

Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. This podcast is a project of C&G Partners | Design for Culture.

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Links for This Episode:

Email Alan Reed

Alan Reed on LinkedIn

GWWO Architects

Projects referenced:
Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Welcome Center at Niagara Falls State Park

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center

Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Ford Orientation Center and Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center

Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:

Contact Making the Museum
Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedIn
Email Jonathan Alger
C&G Partners | Design for Culture
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