November 14th, 2016 was my first time visiting the Cooper Hewitt Museum, located on 91st and 5th, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I visited the museum with my internship class. The layout of the museum is beautifully designed and very simple to navigate through.

Upon arriving and meeting with my professor, she introduced me to “The Pen.” It allows the user to have an interactive experience by saving any piece of artwork throughout the galleries. You can later access your saved pieces at home using a special code on their site. The Pen is also used on the interaction tables, as well as in the Immersion Room and the Process Lab.

Luckily that day that my class visited was not crowded, so I was able to take my time in viewing the exhibits. There were quite a number of innovative designs, but I narrowed down my best three selections based on an emotional impact that resonated with me.

BY THE PEOPLE : DESIGNING A BETTER AMERICA – “An exhibition of 60 collaborative designs from throughout the United States and across borders. By the People  challenges the country’s persistent social and economic inequality. It delivers a powerful message of optimism for achieving a more just and equitable society for all Americans through design. The exhibition will be divided into six themes: act, save, share, live, learn and make.” 

I chose two pieces from this exhibit.

A) James Victore – His posters were so influential and bold. The choice of a doodle-type font and simple illustrations strangely works together, yet his messages along each piece is so powerful and carries such weight, that I couldn’t help being drawn to them.

B) Future Cycles – ORBIT
“What if we could build and maintain our own energy efficient transportation?”

This was a creative, innovative piece that I think was the star of all the exhibits, due to its grand display. There’s a video that accompanies this piece.

“…a fully enclosed vehicle which weighs just 250 lbs., goes 30 mph, has a 25-mile range, and fully recharges in 6 hours. It uses less than a penny per mile in energy cost and might be the perfect commuter vehicle. However, if you want one, you may have to build it yourself.”

MODELS & PROTOTYPES GALLERY –

Models are 3D representations of ideas that:

-Demonstrate the design process
-Test concepts and resolve problems
-Enhance presentations
-Display complex technical skills

These staircases were so intricately designed, I could have probably stood there looking at these for a good half an hour  (if other visitors weren’t there taking photos.) They were simply stunning yet complicated. Each one was extremely detailed with its own mix of style and graceful curves.