Casson Mann fuels energy exhibit

The Science Museum has commissioned a host of designers and interactive artists to produce installations for its upcoming ‘Energy – fuelling the future’ gallery. Casson Mann is handling the exhibition design. Installation designers include Dunne & Raby, B

The Science Museum has commissioned a host of designers and interactive artists to produce installations for its upcoming ‘Energy – fuelling the future’ gallery. Casson Mann is handling the exhibition design. Installation designers include Dunne & Raby, Blast Theory, AllofUs, Kitchen Rogers Design, Soda, Plant and Spiral productions.

As the first of its kind for the museum, the £2m Energy Gallery, which opens next month, will contain no exhibited objects, but will employ interactive installations to teach seven-to-14-year-old children about the role of energy in our lives.

The gallery explores the ecological, political and scientific issues surrounding the Earth’s current and future energy production processes.

The conceptual nature of the subject and the disparate range of installations posed particular challenges for Casson Mann. ‘We had to support the installations by bedding them into the gallery, so that it didn’t feel like a selection of disconnected exhibits,’ says director Roger Mann.

To achieve this, Mann ‘folded’ the floor and housed the installations in the resulting frames. ‘We cut up a plywood and rubber floor to create tables and plinths so that the exhibits felt part of a whole gallery,’ explains Mann.

A range of interactive art and design groups are creating the gallery’s installations. ‘We took a very artist-led approach, which gives the gallery a richness, texture and a more playful feel,’ says Hannah Redler, Energy project leader at the Science Museum.

Casson Mann has also designed the Energy Ring – a 13m structure that will be suspended in the museum’s East Hall, displaying visitors’ energy-related messages.

Casson Mann won the contract following a three-way pitch, beating Kitchen Rogers Design and Softroom.

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