The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History launched Deep Time in the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils. The exhibit discusses how geological events changed primitive Earth, and how humans are changing it in similar ways in present times.
Schaefer reviewed exhibit elements including numerous display cases, platforms with + without glass barriers, display walls, podiums, sound + lighting towers, and theming elements for stability analyses with code prescribed lateral loads + seismic forces. The biggest challenge was to provide support framing in just the right locations and just the right size to be concealed from guests’ view while achieving the designer’s intent. Working with the fabricator, Schaefer used common framing elements and anchors to ease fabrication + erection.