The Aerospace Design Exhibition, developed for the Art Institute of Chicago, was designed to reveal how scientists investigate the invisible forces of wind, gravity, and temperature. Finely-crafted NASA wind tunnel test models were displayed along with wallpaper-scale photography from inside the tunnels themselves, and patterns of the wind’s invisible streamlines were drawn on the gallery walls.

SGA’s exhibit design encouraged visitors to flow along a wall of test models mounted to the convex side of the gallery. The models were protected by a system of 50 custom-designed acrylic vitrines, all of which were laser cut directly from drawing files, then slumped over forms in an oven to create bulbous shapes that protected the models. Acrylic’s inherent flexibility was exploited to allow the vitrines, which traveled with the show, to conform to different wall conditions.

Curator: Martha Thorne, Art Institute of Chicago

Also Exhibited at: Pratt Institute of Art; National AIA Headquarters