I developed the visual identity and signage system, concepted and prototyped several major exhibits, directed junior design staff, researched content in support of our writing team, and collaborated closely with our cross-functional group of architects, strategists, and fabricators.
The Treehouse—a net-zero building designed by Mithun Architects—takes nothing from the grid and recycles all its waste. The Boy Scouts needed a sustainability story for its interior exhibits that would update their “leave no trace” ethos with future-forward strategies for living sustainably.
Scouts visiting the Becktel Summit Reserve are here for summer camp—read FUN—and anxious to get to ziplines, a skate park, climbing areas, and other activities. The Treehouse needed to fit within this context. It needed stories and exhibits that are decidedly unexpected and experiential.
The entry symbol foreshadows the major stories within: a) A tree collects and recycles its own energy. b) A forest ecosystem is self sustaining. c) This treehouse is a “net zero building.” d) Through simple tactics, we can live more sustainably.
We crafted a key story for the first internal space: that a tree such as this one captures its own energy and nutrients which it distributes and later recycles into soil, generating more nutrients.
Text panels, interactives, artifacts, video, and still images provide a range of entry points into the story—each delivering a specific learning in the overall narrative.
A key strategy was to teach through experience. We made rain capture memorable by showing it travel through cups to reach the cistern.
As a counterbalance to the seriousness of energy and climate related content, we utilized unexpected surfaces for moments of levity and play.
Visitors go inside of a life-size woodrat nest to learn about animal architecture.
We crafted experiences where visitors interact physically and collaboratively—learning from the results of their efforts.
Depicting language—full of levity—at a human scale was a tactic we used to "jolt" any visitors that might be losing interest.
We embraced metaphors to expand our thinking and arrive at new concepts—e.g. how is this place like a beach boardwalk?
On the top level, visitors see a gallery of commitments made by so many others who came before.
We selected brand typefaces for their scout-y attributes. The signage material palette families with trail markers at the Summit.
Our schematic design phase culminated in this journey map showing the flow of the individual exhibits that comprise the overall program.
Outside of my political disdain for the Boy Scouts, I like a ton about this project. Its audience, its location, and its mission very rarely see good design. After all, it’s much easier to make a flagship store in Tribeca than a sustainable education center in West Virginia. –Jake Barton, Local Projects and Core77 Awards Judge
Design Agency: Volume Inc.; Creative Directors: Adam Brodsley, Eric Heiman; Designers: Bryan Bindloss, Brice McGowen, Ed O'Brien; Architect: Studio Terpeluk; Fabrication: Pacific Studios