The 9/11 Museum opens next Wednesday, after 13 years of swirling controversies and political infighting that might have sunk the project altogether.
The reason it took so long is simple: This museum isn't really a museum at all. Instead, it is both a memorial to the dead, an archaeological touchstone, and a storytelling platform. Creating a site that serves all those purposes was a design challenge of mammoth complexity. In this video, two of the prime movers in that process--Alice Greenwald, the museum's director, and Jake Barton, its lead media designer--recount how they ensured that the museum wasn't just a static exhibition. Instead, they created a place that filters the experience of witnessing 9/11 in a way that was visceral but not overwhelming.
For a longer look into that process, you can also read my story, The Near-Impossible Challenge of Designing the 9/11 Museum.
