California Academy of Sciences
California: State of Nature
Big, Beautiful, and Biodiverse
California’s unique and extraordinary ecosystems are home to vast networks of interconnected species. Kelp forests as ecosystem engineers. Scorpions that navigate by starlight. Fire as a friend to forest ecosystems. And humans as helpers in creating a more resilient California. This exhibition explores the surprising and unexpected connections between species, places, and people that enable the state to thrive.
The design approach uses a variety of techniques to reinforce the theme of connections and wave-like or mountain-like shapes to evoke landscapes found across the state.
The diverse range of graphic styles and symbols inspired by California popular culture deliver interpretive content in an unexpected way.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Project Size: 8,000sf
Start Date: 2022, Opening: 2024 (ongoing)
Awards: American Alliance of Museums 2025 Museum Impact Award
Role: Senior Exhibit Designer
Process Highlights:
• Reuse of major components from the previous exhibition (Giants of Land and Sea)
• Integration of input from multiple knowledge systems, including Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
• Exploration of abstract, stylized flora and fauna representations
The exhibition design works within the constraints of the building: lots of natural light, passive climate control, and a unique structural system.
Existing and new exhibit systems are combined and unified with repeating 2D and 3D motifs.
A Design Development model view for study and review. New contextual elements are composed around the existing whale skull.
A model view to study the combination of object types.
The diversity of flora and fauna requires a broad palette of display techniques.
California artists contributed works that give each story a tactile reality.
Messy sketches are essential in early design iterations.
A Design Development model view for study and review.
The final combination of mixed display techniques.
California artists contributed works that give each story a tactile reality.
Preparators and conservation specialists brought out the best in each specimen on display.
