Warships Exhibition
Breaking the rules of traditional exhibition design... [studioplusthree] shows a thorough understanding of fabrication and detail...
A simple gesture resolved in detail.
- Jury citation, Australian Institute of Architects NSW Architecture Awards
studioplusthree were commissioned to design a new permanent exhibition for the Australian National Maritime Museum’s new 'Action Stations' experience, commemorating 100 years of the Royal Australian Navy. The exhibition is centred around a set of bespoke steel tables which incorporated a custom-design modular display system, developed to accommodate a constantly evolving set of physical and digital pieces. With an emphasis on the tactile and the physical, the exhibition seeks to invite the visitor behind the scenes of navy life.
The exhibition is situated within the Warships Pavilion, designed by FJMT, and reveals the stories behind the Museum’s Cold War era submarine and destroyer. Visitors are prepared with an immersive cinematic experience before exploring the warships themselves.
Sitting between architecture, installation, industrial and furniture design, the tables feature a custom content display system developed by studioplusthree with more than 2,600 individual components, designed to allow total flexibility in the curation and arrangement of exhibition content.
Developed through collaborations with disciplines ranging from boat building to repetition engineering to weaponology, the project was fabricated using state-of-the-art techniques, such as a tube laser cutting, in combination with traditional skills such sheet metal rolling. The exhibition opened in November 2015.
Awards
2016 NSW Architecture Awards - Winner - Small Project Architecture
2016 Museums and Galleries NSW IMAGinE Award - Action Stations: Winner - Best Exhibition
2016 Museums and Galleries National Awards - Action Stations Experience - Highly Commended - Permanent Exhibition
2016 International Design Communication Awards - Actions Stations Experience - Silver
2016 Museums and Heritage Award- Action Stations Experience - Shortlisted - The International Award
Credits
Exhibition Design - studioplusthree
Photography - Brett Boardman, studioplusthree
Lighting Design - Chris Page
Graphic Design - ASPECT Studios
Fabrication - OX Engineering
Structural Engineering - TTW
Media
Warships Exhibition wins an Award for Small Project Architecture at the 2016 NSW Architecture Awards
Architecture Australia : March/April publication on Pavilion Architecture