Herter Design Group designed and oversaw the installation of an exhibition for the new Martin Y. Tang Welcome Center at Cornell University, telling the story of Cornell’s rich history and dynamic present through text, images, and artifacts. The new welcome center, part of the renovated Noyes Lodge designed by JMZ Architects and Planners, is the first stop for prospective students and their families, as well as many of the more than 50,000 expected annual visitors to the Ivy League campus in Ithaca, New York.
The information included in the exhibit is organized in six sections: Ezra (referring to Ezra Cornell, the school’s co-founder); Humanities; Research; “Any Person, Any Study”; Cornell in New York State; and Life on the Hill. The content in each section is presented on reader rails and monoliths that move throughout the space, punctuated by three-dimensional artifacts of great importance to the Cornell community. Included among those objects on display are Big Red hockey gear, the Rover Athena from the Cornell Mars Rover Project, wearable tech created at the school, DJ equipment from the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, and a 3D-printed replica of Ezra Cornell’s telegraph.
