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The Secret World of Elephants

AMNH Exhibition Design Department

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Life-size model of the African elephant in the exhibition space. - Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
Section of the exhibition that highlights the cultural importance of elephants for different cultures. Elephants are powerful religious and political symbols across cultures. For example, the Hindu god Ganesh, known as the remover of obstacles, has an elephant’s head and a human-like body. - Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
Entrance to the exhibition with the title, description, and first visuals.  The show reveals new science about both modern and ancient elephant relatives and highlights elephants’ extraordinary minds and senses, why they're essential to the health of their ecosystems, and inspiring efforts to overcome threats to their survival. - Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
Life-size model of the African elephant in the exhibition space. - Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Exhibition
5.33
5.86
5.42
5.38
5.5
Arthur Guimarães
Arthur Guimarães Chief Executive Officer at Arthur Guimarães Architects
Fun project of a pop-up. Creative a...
8
9
8.5
8
8.38
Mark Eric Magno
Mark Eric Magno Principal at Aedas Interiors
Cool use of the small area to creat...
7.8
7.5
8.8
8
8.03
Jessica Adkins
Jessica Adkins Brand Experience Design Lead Europe at M Moser Associates
7.5
8
8
8
7.88
Xuechen Chen
Xuechen Chen Architectural Designer at X.C Studio
The layout is intriguing, effective...
7.8
8.5
8.5
8
8.2
Serhii Makhno
Serhii Makhno Founder at MAKHNO Studio
7
8
7
8
7.5
Josse Popma
Josse Popma Partner at Popma ter Steege Architects
6
6
6
6
6
Zizhao Li
Zizhao Li Cofounder and Chief Designer at DSC · Design
7
7
7
7
7
Anna Gitelman
Anna Gitelman Associate Professor at Suffolk University
7
7
8
7
7.25
Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell Managing Director at Seen Studios
6
7.5
6.5
8
7
Wenqing Zhou
Wenqing Zhou Founder at Add Culture & Creative Development
7
8
8
8
7.75
Harkaran Singh Boparai
Harkaran Singh Boparai Founder at Space 5
6
7
6
7
6.5
Yan Zhang
Yan Zhang Cofounder at say architects
6.4
6.4
6.4
6.61
6.45
Jianan Shan
Jianan Shan Cofounder at say architects
7.02
6.71
6.61
8.16
7.13
Burton Baldridge
Burton Baldridge Founder at Baldridge Architects
The sustainability rhetoric should...
6
7
6
6
6.25
Mike McGirr
Mike McGirr Managing Partner and Design Principal at red design
7.11
7.38
7.11
7.02
7.16
Pooja Shah-Mulani
Pooja Shah-Mulani Partner and Design Director at LW Design
7
7.5
7
6
6.88
Suvi Saloniemi
Suvi Saloniemi Head of Exhibitions at Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design Museum
7
6
7
7
6.75
Client
The American Museum of Natural History
Floor area
603 ㎡
Completion
2023
Social Media
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Life-sized aminal models


The Secret World of Elephants exhibition reveals lesser-known facts about elephants and their role in natural ecosystems and culture. Through life-size models, fossils and casts, and engaging interactives made by the AMNH Fabrication and 3D Design team, visitors are introduced to the greater elephant family tree, which reveals that the elephant’s closest living relatives are not, as some might assume, large mammals with thick, wrinkly skin—like hippos and rhinos—but aquatic sea cows and furry, rabbit-sized hyraxes. Visitors explore how elephants reshape their environment through eating, trampling, and creating water holes, which influence the survival of numerous species.

Given the variety of objects and media that needed to be represented in a relatively small space, the AMNH team developed an original structural system made of EMT pipes and steel connectors. This simple, cost-efficient, and reusable construction method allowed the creation of a grid-like modulus to present graphics, support media screens and interactives, and divide space into logical sections. This choice of materials and hardware also allows for rebuilding the show in other locations and reusing elements for future exhibitions. The current layout for AMNH halls also includes numerous sections to enable visitors to explore the space with comfort and the opportunity to make a break.

To balance the industrial allure of the physical materials, the show's color palette includes a combination of bright colors that also serve as color codes for the five main parts of the show: Evolution, Body, Mind, Habitat, and Elephants and Us.

Within these sections, visitors can hear five different elephant vocalizations and are encouraged to “speak elephant” by observing videos of various social behaviors in elephants—including greetings, courtship, play, and mourning—and answer questions about the underlying meanings. Visitors can make their own elephant herd with a selection of large magnets representing the matriarch—the leader—as well as other female adults and calves. Two touchable teeth, one from a mammoth and one from a mastodon-like species demonstrate differences in the ways these giant proboscideans chewed, and an interactive mammoth tusk model demonstrates how scientists use isotope “fingerprints” to reveal how mammoths traveled across what is now Alaska about 17,000 years ago. The exhibit has been designed to consider the safety, accessibility, and interests of visitors of all ages.

On a grander scale, the exhibition highlights the alarming decline in elephant species and the pressing need for conservation efforts. It features interactive displays that address contemporary issues such as the ivory trade, climate change, and human-elephant conflict. In addition, there is a documentary film showcasing the real-world efforts of the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya to conserve elephants.