Merit Award
Corning Museum of Glass: Glass Innovation Center
Client
Corning, Inc.
Location
Corning, New York
Design Firm
Ralph Appelbaum Associates Incorporated
Design Team
Ralph Appelbaum (Principal in Charge), Madeline Chinnici, Nadia Coen, Nancy Hoerner, Jessica Holbrook, Sylvia Juran, John Locascio, Jack Pascarosa, Kevin Sayama, Rick Sobel
Fabricator
Design & Production Inc., Warfel Schrager, Sculpture Basis, Penwal Industries, Inc., Wet design, Tripyramid, CB Obersheimer, Dlubak Corporation, John Depp Inc., Electrosonic
Consultants
Ove Arup and Partners, R.A. Heintges, Architects/Consultants, De Semone, Donna Lawrence Productions, Claude R. Engle (lighting), International Chiminey
Photography
Scott Frances
This project unifies stories of science and industry with the museum's ongoing traditions of glass collecting and community involvement. The interpretive programming and design evolved simultaneously with the architectural renovation, integrating a complementary set of visitor experiences. The project included a new introductory theater that presents an overview of humanity's exploration of glass in all of its forms. Throughout the space, the exhibition design immerses visitors in scientific and technological discovery, including the redesigned Steuben Factory tour and new hot Glass Show areas that provide live contact with glassmaking excellence. The Innovation Center floats out in space, giving the galleries a link to the retail level below. In that way, people immediately feel how technology is manifested into practical applications and products.
Jury Comment
An effective use of the client's product - glass - as both a graphic symbol and the design vocabulary underpinning the structure of one of America's finest industrial museums. Transparency and fluidity are the controlling motifs: history, technology and art combine in an environment that celebrates and interprets the perceptual properties of the medium.