Portland Airport
A great exhibition space should thoughtfully evoke various senses. The new Portland Airport achieves this by incorporating materials that reflect the natural landscape of the Pacific Northwest. It utilizes mass timber construction, giving visitors the sensation of being in a forest, similar to what they experience during their descent and when looking out the windows after arrival.
Additionally, the airport has preserved and repurposed some of its iconic old carpet, integrating it throughout the building. This transformation creates various exhibition areas where people can take pictures on the historic carpet. These spaces brilliantly filter light, emphasizing important moments while providing shade and reducing glare in areas where visitors will spend more time.
World Trade Center Memorial
The most impactful exhibition space I have ever visited is the Ground Zero Memorial in the heart of New York City. Not all exhibition spaces need to be grand structures; in this case, the voids left on the ground where the World Trade Center once stood serve as powerful reminders of a devastating moment in history when our nation was attacked.
The waterfall cascading into the square openings creates a soothing sound that allows visitors to pay their respects to the men and women lost on September 11. The sheer size and depth of these voids emphasize the magnitude of the damage inflicted that day.
Additionally, the landscape incorporates both public and semi-public areas throughout the site, providing spaces for people to find moments of privacy as they grapple with the intense emotions evoked by this solemn site.