Located in the center of historic Park City, the museum is the ideal location to share the town’s colorful history from raucous mining settlement to world-class ski resort. The project was a major renovation of historic buildings as well as a large addition.
As Park City’s original civic center, the museum building was was an important element in telling the story of the town. Much of the planning of the exhibition focused on developing stories built on the historic functions of the building as city hall, police station and prison.
I acted as the project lead within the studio, heading up a team of exhibit, graphic and media designers, exhibit developers and writers. I worked in tandem with the project architect, Mark Cavagnero, to integrate important exhibit elements into the layout of the building. I also assisted the client in selecting qualified contractors to fabricate the exhibits, produce media, and engineer and install A/V and computer systems.
An introductory group of exhibits brings together many elements to tell the story of how and why people came to Park City in the late 19th century.
A scaled section of a silver mine – complete with tunnels, ore cars and a Cornish pump – stretches two stories high and is integrated with the museum’s architecture.
Visitors get a chance to try their hand at some of the dangerous jobs of a miner. The rough stonework of the historic prison latrine in the basement of the building was utilized to to create the feeling of being in a 19th century Park City silver mine.
Visitors take a “trip” through Park City’s boom and bust days via video in an historic “skier’s subway” car. We worked with the architect to allow the artifact to be installed in the basement of the building after construction was complete.
Colorful characters that served time in the Park City jail (located in the basement of the museum) are featured in an interactive mug book. As visitors turn each page the “wanted” characters tells their story in video.
A translucent topographical map of Park City shows the primary mine tunnels beneath the city.
Stone cores drilled when the mines were active around the turn of last century became the base for the Museum’s donor recognition exhibit.
Location: Park City, UT
Floor Area: 4,500 sq. ft.
Budget: $1,300,000
Opening: 2009
Contact: Sandra Morrison, Executive Director
smorrison@parkcityhistory.org
435.649.7457 ext. 103
URL: www.parkcityhistory.org