Who We Are / Inspiration

During our original idea process we wanted to find a way to construct exhibits customized to each of our interests located in one museum, and thanks to our shared class of Robotics, we had experience with a perfect solution to our issue: 3D Modeling. 

During our robotics class this year we learned about 3D Modeling, in particular using a software called Fusion 360 in order to model our robots in a virtual setting. This way we could plan out and picture a complete and finished build before even touching a screwdriver. Through learning this we began to search for other software that we could use similar to Fusion 360, but specialized for architecture more so than just 3D structures and parts.

This was when we discovered Sketch Up, a software designed for architecture that functioned in a way that was easily accessible for three student who had already worked in Fusion 360. With the software picked out, we began to think about sketches and ideas for what we wanted our own museum to look like.

Through our own research and an interview with Reg Hoyt, a former curatorial advisor with a Masters in Museum Studies and Biological Science from Texas Tech University, we found out that each museum's exhibits are carefully crafted in order to fit not only the "mission" or goal of the individual museum, but they also tie into each other in order to create a seamless experience for the guests who walk in each day. As a result we needed to create a central theme to our museum, and find a way that each of our exhibit would not only fit that theme, but also work in tandem with each other. 

Through discussion we realized that our museum's theme was the passage of time. Our museum starts on the left-hand side with the astronomy exhibit, discussing the beginnings of the universe all the way until the dinosaurs arrive, which brings the guests to the second exhibit, discussing dinosaurs and creatures that walked the Earth millions of years ago, until finally guests reach the final room, showing how evolution and the passage of time has caused these gigantic prehistoric titans into the birds that inhabit our Earth today.

Finally, the architecture of the exhibit also reflects our theme and mission. We wanted to make our museum unlike any others before it, and thus wanted the structure itself to reflect that. We chose and uncommon shape, a hexagon, to achieve this goal, as well as to give a futuristic aesthetic to our museum through this uniqueness, furthering the idea of time, and how time has shaped our lives from the stars in the sky, to the dinosaurs bones we find, and finally the birds we hear chirping in trees today.