We created a quick proof of concept to see if our audience was interested in the idea of tracing and designing their own footwear. It proved to be very popular.

I then needed to consider how the experience would function and what it would look like. To get things off the ground, I created a number of to-scale models to communicate my ideas to the curator and get tips on construction from SMO’s exhibit team.

This apparatus helped to turn a smart-phone into a macro-scope. The prototype was tested as an exhibit, but required more exposition than most visitors were comfortable with. After refining several iterations to make it stronger and easier to use, we decided that it would work best as a facilitated experience.

Another prototype for the footwear exhibition, we set up a system of shelves that showcased cross–sections of shoes. This was paired with a wall of shoe materials that visitors could touch. The shelf system was the easiest part of this prototype. The hardest part was figuring out how to cleanly cut a heel in half—we ended up having to use three different kinds of saws.

This chain reaction experience was used for team–building workshops, library/school outreaches, drop in facilitated experiences within Tinkering Garage, and as a professional development offering for the Arkansas Discovery Network. It consisted of several loose materials and a number of “challenge pieces” that helped visitors get started. Individuals worked in teams to problem solve a section of the chain reaction, then worked together with the teams adjacent to them to connect everything together.

Tinkering Garage was previously an unstaffed gallery of open-ended exploration exhibits at Science Museum Oklahoma. As the design lead, it was my job to decide how to recreate the space to privilege facilitated experiences and train the individuals that would staff the space. I researched and acquired furniture, technology, and tools for the space. I then spent several months working in the space developing a catalogue of offerings. Tinkering Garage consists of a large open space that was designed to be flexible enough to accommodate a number of experiences. The back of the space features a lab stocked with rapid prototyping technology used by the staff to prototype new experiences.

I discovered a fascination with tunnels and abandoned infrastructure when I moved to Philadelphia. Forgotten Underground was an exhibition developed to share the stories of the “Sand Hogs” (the individuals responsible for building the underground infrastructure in cities) and to gesture at what it might be like to explore the abandoned tunnels underneath cities like Philadelphia and New York. The exhibition and its identity were then designed by Nicole Pollard.