This past Saturday at the Association of Science-Technology Centers conference in Baltimore, Science Storms received the Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience. The awards are presented annually to ASTC members in recognition of extraordinary accomplishments that not only enhance the performance of their own institutions, but also significantly advance the mission of science-technology centers and museums.

Everyone from Evidence Design, many of our colleagues at MSI Chicago, and numerous other members of the Science Storms team were present for the announcement. Congratulations to all our collaborators!

Evidence Design is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of SHIFT, a prototype exhibit at this year’s ASTC conference conceived to initiate a community dialogue about innovation. EVD created the SHIFT identity and exhibit graphics to launch the birth of this series.

SHIFT will be the starting point for a thoughtful, ongoing conversation about ways the science center community can marshal its resources and creative energies to inspire the planet’s next generation of inventors, innovators, and visionary thinkers.

Thanks to all ASTC sponsors who supported this exhibit and conference. We expect an inspiring, eventful weekend in Baltimore!

Rondi swam through heavy chop, past enormous barges; the Staten Island Ferry delayed its departure to allow the swimmers to pass! Evidence Design colleagues and family were out on a Brooklyn pier to cheer for Rondi as she rounded lower Manhattan and headed up the East River. Click on the links to learn more about the Manhattan Island Match Race and Record Attempt and Record breaking NYC Swim Season.

Bravo Rondi — amazing accomplishment!

As we posted earlier, Science Storms received the Cross Media Award in AIGA’s 365: Design Effectiveness 2011 Competition.  Winning designs  are now on display at the AIGA National Design Center, as well as online in its virtual gallery, the AIGA Design Archives. In December, the exhibition will begin traveling around the United States and then become part of the AIGA Design Archives housed at the Denver Art Museum. Lots of opportunities to go see the Science Storms display and other award winners — check it out!

Reconstructing dinosaurs from scant fossil evidence requires enormous amounts of science, art, and imagination. Tonight BBC Four will air How to Build a Dinosaur, a documentary that features the work of many of the scientists, artists, and mount makers who created the displays in the Dinosaur Hall. If you are in the UK, check it out!  Most of us in the US won’t be able to watch, but the BBC website features a clip about fabricating the baby T. rex,  shown above.

Photo Credit: Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

The Dinosaur Hall at The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened this weekend, and fans of fossils are enthusiastic about the exhibit’s fresh approach to displaying and understanding these magnificent creatures. Our favorite reviews so far include the pithy prose of LA Observed, the fantastic photos in LA Curbed, and the insightful article in our hometown paper, The New York Times. Congratulations to the team for the years of creative collaboration. Visit our Work page for pictures — more coming soon.

Taking break from exhibition news, we would like to share the impressive achievement of Senior Content Specialist, Rondi Davies.  Many of Rondi’s extracurricular activities involve long distance running and open water swimming all around New York City and environs. Recently she and friend Dave Barra organized the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim, a 120 mile marathon down the Hudson River from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in Catskill to Brooklyn’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Over 7 days in July, Rondi, Dave and 19 other swimmers dove into the river at a different bridge each morning, sometimes swimming as many as 20 miles a day, navigating changing currents, large boats, and sweltering heat. The event raised money for environmental and open-water swimmers groups, and plans are underway to do it again in 2012. Our congratulations to Rondi and Dave on the success of the 8 Bridges Swim! Learn more about the event, see pictures, and read lots of great news coverage at the link above.

For 31 years, the Industrial Designers Society of America has presented the International Design Excellence Awards, a collection of the year’s best design. “The IDEA program is considered by many as the ‘Oscars’ of design competitions because the judging process is rigorous and judged by the experts in their field,” said IDSA’s CEO Clive Roux.  This year the jury reviewed over 2,000 entries, a record number, to select  27 designs for a Gold Award.

Science Storms won Gold in the Environments category. “This is such a visually rich and interactive exhibit which communicates the immense scale and principles of nature and connects all individuals regardless of age,” notes Lance Hussey, Vice President and Creative Director of IDSA. Read more about the award at IDSA or at its media partner, Fast Company.

Congratulations to all our Science Storms partners.

In September when the formal announcement is made, winning designs will be become a part of a permanent collection online and in the AIGA Design Archives housed at the Denver Art Museum. The jury’s selections will also be mounted as a traveling public exhibition first opening at the AIGA National Design Center in New York.

Congratulations to MSI Chicago and our wonderful team!

On June 3rd The Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) honored Science Storms with a Merit Award for Environmental Graphics. The SEGD Design Awards Program recognizes exceptional environmental graphic design illustrating the pandisciplinary nature of visual communications in the built environment.

The Jury commented: “A totally integrated dynamic environment, encouraging interaction with the audience that truly inspires. The dynamic content, static environmental graphics, and exhibits all work harmoniously together to form a magnificent space.”

Congratulations to all our Science Storms partners!

The IALD Lighting Design Awards program, established in 1983, honors lighting projects that display high aesthetic achievement backed by technical expertise. Congratulations Focus Lighting!

Today Science Storms received the American Association of Museum’s 23rd Annual Excellence in Exhibition Award.  We’ve posted about many awards for Science Storms,  but this one is particularly close to our hearts, as we are honored the exhibit received such recognition from our museum colleagues. The award goes to exhibits that successfully integrate scholarship, audience engagement, exhibit design and programming and offer visitors a chance to explore new ideas, as well as directly communicate an institution’s value to the public.  Science Storms and recipients of other Special Achievement Awards were recognized for their risk-taking and daring exhibition approaches.

Many of Science Storms‘ creators are in Houston at AAM’s Annual Meeting and were present at the announcement. Kurt Haunfelner, Vice President of Exhibits & Collections at Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, accepted the award for the museum. Evidence Design’s Jack Pascarosa joined him on stage for a Q & A session with Willard Whitson, Vice President of Exhibits and Programs at the National Children’s Museum. Representatives from Cortina Productions, Lexington, writer Sharon Simpson and others enjoyed celebrating Science Storms‘ success with the EVD and MSI teams.

Congratulations to our fellow Special Achievement winners, to the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, and to Evidence Design’s creative and technical partners — this is a true collaborative achievement!

Last night Science Storms received two Gold MUSE awards from the American Association of Museums (AAM) Media & Technology Committee. Recognizing outstanding achievement in museum media, these awards are presented to institutions or independent producers which use digital media to enhance the museum experience and engage new audiences. The MUSE awards celebrate scholarship, innovation, creativity, and inclusiveness.

The Fire|Combustion area received a Gold MUSE in the Interpretive Interactive Installation category, and  Create a Chemical Reaction garnered another Gold in the Interactive Kiosk category.

Bravo Team!!

Science Storms received an Award of Excellence in the 28th Annual GE Edison Awards. The competition is open internationally to lighting professionals who creatively employ significant use of GE light sources (lamps and/or LEDs) in a lighting design project completed during the previous year. Congratulations and thanks to Focus Lighting for their indispensable creative and technical contributions and close collaboration with Evidence Design on all lighting related aspects of Science Storms.

We are very pleased Science Storms has been recognized by the Art Directors Club winning the Bronze Award for Environmental Design in the 90th Annual Awards Competition. Judged by an international panel of the world’s most respected creative professionals, the ADC competition honors the best work from around the world in interactive media, broadcast and print advertising, graphic design, publication design, packaging, photography and illustration. Science Storms will be featured with other winners in the award-winning Art Directors Annual 90, the oldest and most respected compendium of outstanding work in the industry.

(Photo: Don Bartletti, Los Angeles Times / May 10, 2007)

Harley Garbani, a self-taught paleontologist who found many of the prized dinosaur bones at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, died on April 21 at the age of 88. He is pictured above in 2007 holding a replica of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skull he found in Montana; the original will be on display in the new Dinosaur Halls. Read more about Garbani’s passion for hunting fossils and his unique finds in the Los Angeles Times obituary.

The award-winning photographer Sean Hemmerle spent three days at Science Storms, producing gorgeous, dynamic images of the exhibit. His pictures capture the dramatic beauty and excitement of Science Storms, and we’re convinced they helped Evidence Design achieve recognition in numerous design competitions – which we will proudly announce once the press embargoes are lifted!  Everyone enjoyed the collaboration, as Sean graciously describes in his blog Architographer. Check out more of his amazing work from around the world at www.seanhemmerle.com.