imperial war museum, london
world war II gallery
Client: beck
Scope: Interactives and replicas
Imperial War Museums, London has become the first museum in the world to physically and intellectually present the Holocaust narrative within the context of the Second World War. Spanning two floors and occupying over 3000m2, the new galleries tell the story of the Second World War and the Holocaust for a 21st century audience, engaging future generations of museum visitors with this complex and formative period of human history.
We feel very privileged to have contributed to this prestigious project designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (WWII gallery) and Casson Mann Ltd (Holocaust gallery). We worked with Scena Productions, BECK Interiors and AY-PE to design, develop, build and install a wide variety of physical interactives and replicas.
Interactives include a newspaper front page creator, Enigma machine and period radio. We also created a period fireplace, plus a number of touchable models and replicas including a toy sausage dog. All the exhibits are designed to be accessible to all visitors of all ages without appearing childlike, in keeping with the look and feel of the galleries. The museum receives an extremely high volume of visitors each year so the tactile exhibits needed to be robust, durable and easy to clean.