Interpreting World Heritage Conference March 28, 2007

The Collaborative Approach

Isaac Marshall, Principal

AldrichPears Associates Ltd.
imarshall@aldrichpears.com
AldrichPears Associates Ltd.
• 30 years experience planning and designing interpretive
exhibits
• Staff of 40 with diverse backgrounds and experience
• Work exclusively with mission-driven non-profit institutions
• International clientele
Creating meaningful interpretive graphics
Unexpected synergies can result
from bringing together people
with different experiences – inside
or outside an organization – in a
structured workshop setting.
The Collaborative Approach:
• Interpretive institutions have the ability to be catalysts
for change.
• Individuals working together can have monumental results.
• We can overcome hurdles and identify opportunities by
tapping the collective knowledge of a diverse group.
• Structure provides focus to the conversation.
Workshop Process:
• Day 1 — Context and Vision
• Day 2 — Organize and Illustrate
• Day 3 — Reflect and Refine
• Day 4 — Obstructions and Strategic Directions
Case Studies:
1. The Getty Villa, Malibu, California
2. The National Maritime Centre for the Pacific,
North Vancouver, BC
3. The Design Lab at the Desert Living Center, Las Vegas, NV

1. The Getty Villa, Malibu California
Goal: Create
 experiences that will give families with small children a
deeper appreciation of Greek, Roman and Etruscan art and culture.
Players:
• Education: paralyzed by educational theory
• Conservation: doesn’t want anyone (except themselves)
touching anything
•Curatorial: worried about oversimplifying content
(looking bad to their peers)
• Design: maintaining a high level of sophistication
Result:

Lesson
Excellent results that don’t compromise individuals’ ideals can be
achieved if you:
• bring seemingly disparate groups to the same table
• provide focus to the conversation
•give them an understanding of the problems they each face
• inject an outside, objective perspective

2. The National Maritime Centre
for the Pacific, North Vancouver, BC
Goal: Develop a sustainable model for a maritime center in the Lower
Mainland.
Players:
• Museum: needs money to stay “afloat”
• Municipality: needs to revitalize a contaminated industrial site
•Developer: needs prime waterfront real estate in a hot market
• Maritime trades: need the next generation of employees
•Community: needs a place to celebrate its maritime
heritage and future
Results

Shipyards Historic Precinct

FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
LEARNING CENTRE
Much of the time, these learning spaces serve the NMC’s
educational and interpretive needs – the theatre LEARNING FOOD
plays a custom film and interactive classrooms are
used for school programs. However, they are
CENTRE
also used by partners and community groups
for presentations, research and classes. This
multi-use aspect extends the function of WATER
the NMC, expands the scope of public
experience and makes the NMC an active TEMPORARY
place beyond typical opening hours.
EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT
GALLERIES
EXHIBIT & LEARNING SPACES LOBBY
Includes administration and permanent
and temporary exhibit galleries with spaces MOORAGE/WATER
designed for educational programs. MARITIME
DEMO AREAS
WORKSHOP

SPECIAL FUNCTIONS WATERFRONT

A large, multi-purpose outdoor gathering space RETAIL A waterfront setting is a key component
offers opportunities for special events, presentations, of the NMC. It provides moorage for
a children’s play area, visitor information, people /boat-
watching and retail and food services.
OUTDOOR visitors or touring ships, on-water
demonstrations and a boat haulout.
BOAT
SPACES HAULOUT
Most importantly, immediate visual
and physical access between the
NMC and the waterfront contextualizes
EVENT exhibits and events and links them
directly to real world experiences.
SPACE

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #8
 EXHIBIT GALLERY – LEVEL ONE
Auditorium Interactive Interactive Resource Restaurant
Classroom Classroom Centre

LC Learning Centre

Welcome: Connecting The Deep Frontier

Canada’s
Coastlines St. Roch

WATERFRONT
(bottom view)
ESPLANADE

Ocean Science:
Discovering Marine
Secrets
Defending Retail
Our Seas

Harvesting the Coast

Workshop
Shipbuilding
Ocean
NMC Trade
Retail

Commercial Retail Commercial Retail

L1
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #9
 LEARNING CENTRE LC (ALSO PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE EXHIBIT GALLERIES) Nautical charts

RESOURCE
Maritime career

CENTRE
planning resources
Computer
access stations
Books & magazines

Lectures
Debates
AUDITORIUM

Slideshows
Films
Guest speakers
Workshops
High-tech

TRAINING ROOMS
Layout tables
presentations

INTERACTIVE
Demonstrations
Multi-media capabilities
Boat restoration
Hands-on workshops
WORKSHOP
MARITIME

Engine disassembly
School programs
Boat building
Apprenticeship training
Hands-on
apprenticeships
Demonstrations

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #10
 Real-time satellite images projected
WELCOME: CONNECTING CANADA’S COAST
The National Story:
Our West, East and North Coasts
A Country Linked by the Sea

Canada, s
3 coasts
-global view

View cross-section of Cape

Breton, s stern

Two-storey
views

Explore BC , s
coastline

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #11
SHIPBUILDING
Hands-on
exhibits Icon artifact: Building wooden
Triple Expansion ships -exhibit
North Van’s Shipbuilding Heritage Engine
World Wars: Commercial Growth
Wooden Shipbuilding
Two-storey views
First Nations Canoes
Shipbuilding Today

North Vancouver shipyard -visual

context

Historic
North Vancouver
shipyard
-setting the scene

High technologies interactive

exhibits
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #12
 HARVESTING THE COAST
Fishing: Tales and Techniques
Working Boats Fishing in the
North
Whaling and Sealing -video
Fish-eye view
New Horizons: Oil and Gas of fishing boats
and nets
A Sustainable Future?
Oil & gas
exploration
audio-visual

Scenes from
the ocean -video

BC fishing Trawler model

industry stories

Small motion
simulator
-operate
a boom boat

Explore cut-away
trawler (section)
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #13
 Interactive trading maps Piloting vessels simulation
OCEAN TRADE Scenes from the
sea audio-visual
Digital display
Navigation showing trade
Gateway to Asia Interactive crane routes
-load & unload
Port of Vancouver container ship
Working the Waterfront
For the Benefit of Canada:
East and West Coast Ports

Scenes from
Vancouver
Interactive port audio-visual
stations White Pass
container
artifact

LC -Wheelhouse & simulator

new & old technologies Large-scale
model of
containership

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #14
DEFENDING OUR SEAS
Fireboats and Harbour Safety
Coast Guard
Navy

Marine safety training

demonstrations

LC
Learning about safety.
On-water demos.
Ship-based apprenticeships

On-board tours of visiting

naval vessels

New
technologies
on display

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #15
THE DEEP FRONTIER Collect ocean data
Underwater Exploration through the ice
Shipwrecks
Submersible Technology
North Vancouver’s
Undersea Experts

Phil Nuytten ,s NewtSuit

- major contributions to
Experience underwater undersea science
technologies made in
North Vancouver

LC Remote-manipulation training

Sunken shipwreck setting

Be a diver
-explore
hidden realms Underwater
archeology -artifacts

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #16
OCEAN SCIENCE: DISCOVERING MARINE SECRETS
Exploring the Ocean from Space
Interactive satellite
Laboratories at Sea image display
Real-time connections
Ocean Environments to Canadian network of
Human Impacts research facilities
Forecasting Dive in
a small submersible

Sustainable planning
-computer simulations

LC Ocean Science
computer modeling
Real lab
activities

Interact
with life

Hands-on
experiences

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L1 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #17
 EXHIBIT GALLERY – LEVEL TWO

St. Roch The

WATERFRONT
Frozen North
ESPLANADE

Coastal Communities

Coming to BC:
First Nations and
Newcomers Inspirations:
Top of engine
from below Suspended exhibits Temporary
Gallery

Administration Administration

L2
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #18
COMING TO BC: FIRST NATIONS AND NEWCOMERS
Early explorers
First Nations Coast Contemporary First Nations -stories &
perspective projected artifacts
Exploration and Adventure on flat-screens
Early Trading of Marine Resources

Welcome figure

Feel real
sea otter
fur

Live
interpreter

Canoes Themed
and other boats Demonstrations westcoast setting

Models and First Nations trade items

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L2 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #19
COASTAL COMMUNITIES
Interactive vignettes,
Personal artifacts
stories
Living and Working Historic fac,ades
Along the Coast and large-scale Discover community histories
photomurals
Cultural Connections
With the Sea
The Immigration Experience

Pretend to be an
early immigrant

West, North and Eastern coastal

community vignettes
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic L2 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #20
THE FROZEN NORTH Aurora Borealis
St. Roch lighting feature
Search for the Northwest Passage
Canadian Sovereignty
The Changing Arctic
Living North of 60

St. Roch
St. Roch trapped Historic context
adventure in ice
stories

Inuit Stories

Pack for an
arctic journey

access via
an ice bridge

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic L2 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #21
TEMPORARY EXHIBIT GALLERY
A dynamic space for temporary exhibitions
Featured topics are framed by the NMC’s
mission, which emphasizes how the ocean Maritime
has influenced our past and provides for Fine Art Gallery
our future

Maritime
Models Artifacts

Views of
downtown
Vancouver
The National Maritime Centre
For the Pacific and the Arctic L2 SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #22
 What is...
The National Maritime Centre
?
For the Pacific and the Arctic

The NMC will be the West Coast hub for maritime

activity and education. It will bring together
historic artifacts and new media, maritime
training, forums and events to be a dynamic
year-round destination for residents and visitors.

The National Maritime Centre

For the Pacific and the Arctic SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 #23
Lessons
Cultural institutions can play a larger role in their communities.
Relevancy enables sustainability.
Opportunities and synergies exist but without the right collaborative
approach they cannot be realized.

3. The Design Lab at the Desert Living Center,
Las Vegas, NV
Goal: Provide resources for Las Vegans to live sustainably in the Mojave.
Players:
• Water District: Running out of water due to consumption
patterns.
• Power Company: Facing regulatory and public pressure to
cap emissions.
•Residents: Don’t know where to turn to get info they need.
Results

Lessons
Creating meaningful interpretive graphics
TBD

To conclude…
1. Getty Villa: departments that had trouble seeing eye-to-eye worked
together to produce a visitor experience that helps young visitors de-
velop a deeper appreciation for ancient art.
2. National Maritime Centre: a museum reinvents itself as a vibrant and
financially sustainable maritime centre.
3.Desert Living Center Design Lab: a facility in a city not known for
sustainability is poised to make a real difference.
None of these results would have been possible without bringing
in project partners or structured collaboration.