Building a Museum in Eight Months – Part 3

Design Kickoff Meeting – Putting our assumptions to the test and finding the right voice for the story This is the third article in a series about designing and building the Museum of Internal Auditing in eight months. The previous article explains how and why we developed an Exhibit Plan for the museum. This article is about how we started the design …

Building a Museum in Eight Months

First Meeting – Finding a reason why the world needs this museum When I first got the call from Judy Burke, VP of Governance for the Institute of Internal Auditors, I thought this was going to be a difficult process. She called me to set up a meeting to explore designing and building a museum about Internal Auditing. First, I …

Takers to Givers

Children's museum design and fabrication

Takers to Givers Shifting Imagery to build community leaders Takers to Givers is the first in a series of articles about the groundbreaking work we are doing for the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast. We Started with Pirates When we first talked to the leadership at the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast, we knew that we had some …

Backwards History: Leading with the Story to Bring the Holidays to Life

What the Dickens

A local museum, Art and History Museums Maitland, recently called us with an interesting project. They had committed to making the theme of their historic property representative of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” for the holiday season. They needed a material historian who specializes in the Victorian era. More specifically, they needed someone who was familiar with the period between 1844 …

Ingenuity & Know-how Trump a Hostile Environment

Conservation framing

It is hard to imagine a worse environment for a special piece of original artwork than a restaurant, where it’s exposed to pollutants, harsh light, unstable temperatures and humidity, and even curious fingers. And yet … Art must be seen to be appreciated. Sometimes, that means taking the art to where the audience is. A private collector wrestling with this …

AST Exhibits Creates Western theme for Mennello Museum

Kiva fireplace in our studio. Fabrication complete and ready for installation.

The Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida, relied on the skill of AST Exhibits when it came time to add additional interest to its galleries. Director Frank Holt wanted to add themed architectural elements to accentuate touring exhibitions that will feature the art of the American West this year.  AST Exhibits designed, fabricated and installed five elements to …

South Florida Science Center & Aquarium

Interactive Everglades Exhibit for the South Florida Science Center & Aquarium

[clientplace clientname=”South Florida Science Center & Aquarium” projectplace=”West Palm Beach, FL”]
The South Florida Science Center & Aquarium underwent a massive expansion, renovation and rebranding project in 2013.

Traveling Exhibit of Artwork by Rob Storter

We used a rugged-looking texture for the background of these panels to remind visitors of a time when even paper was made by hand.

Client: Friends of the Museum of the Everglades
Location: Touring Exhibit

AST Exhibits is in the process of designing a traveling exhibit of Rob Storter’s work and making sure it can safely travel the globe.

Marco Island Historical Museum

Calusa style shell tools were researched and recreated by the AST art team.

[clientplace clientname=”Collier County Museums and Marco Island Historical Society” projectplace=”Marco Island, FL”]
The Marco Island Historical Museum is a brand new facility that opened in June 2010 with a number of temporary exhibits.

Naples Airfield Exhibit

The empty gaze of a WW2 pilot's dress uniform gives the engine of the T6 trainer plane one last inspection.

Client: Collier County Museums
Location: Collier County, Florida

The story of the development of the Naples Airport is a very important one to the development of Naples itself.

Naples Depot Museum Phase II

When recreating Frank's Garage for the Naples Depot Museum, AST Exhibits carefully matched the decorative roofline, the hand painted sign from 1927 and even found a Ford Model T.

[clientplace clientname=”Collier County Museums” projectplace=”Naples, FL”]
The challenge was to take a 2400 square foot room and use it to tell the story of other modes of transportation than rail in Collier County.

Naples Depot Museum Phase I

Angled windows allowed the Station Master to see trains both up and down the line from his desk. AST Exhibits replaced the original windows with "magic" windows that allow YOU to witness the action along the rails.

Client: Collier County Museums
Location: Naples, FL

When AST became involved with this project in 2007, the Naples Depot was just beginning the process of renovation.

Archbishop John C. Favalora Archive and Museum

St. Thomas University hired AST Exhibits to develop a portion of their library into a museum that celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Archdiocese of Miami.

Client: St. Thomas University
Location: Miami Gardens Florida

The University needed museum display cases that met with their initial design concept for a new on campus Museum located within their Library facility.

Interpretive Outdoor Signage

When choosing a color scheme for graphic panels it is important to consider the hue of the surrounding foliage.

Client: Collier County Museums
Location: Collier County, Florida

AST Exhibits designed these outdoor interpretive graphic panels to endure hurricane force winds, torrential rains and the intense South Florida sunshine.

Grove House Sustainability Exhibit

AST Exhibits used visual comparison in this display to demonstrate the amount of water that can be conserved by using drip irrigation.

Client: Florida’s Natural Co-Op
Location: Lake Wales, Florida

Florida’s Natural had recently made many environmentally-conscious improvements to their operation and were looking for a way to showcase these improvements in their visitor’s center.