Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
We’re honoring a dynamic President whose life embodied the values of leadership, conservation and citizenship.
Overview
Adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the Badlands of North Dakota, this museum of the future will inspire civic leaders and conservationists for generations to come. Our team was first engaged to create a preliminary Interpretive Master Plan that formed the foundation of the creative concept for an international architectural competition. From there, we designed an exhibition experience where guests will learn from TR as they traverse Adventure Galleries that mirror the journey of his life, alongside rich intellectual interpretation and collections. In parallel, we designed the institutional brand identity and developed the core content for the exhibitions.
Partners
Snohetta, Atelier Ten
Services
Experience Design, Interpretative Planning, Branding & Identity
The Details
Dare Greatly, Think Boldly, Live Passionately, Care Deeply
Over 30,000 square feet of exhibition space offers guests participatory activities as we tell the story of President Theodore Roosevelt’s life. In doing so, we create opportunities for guests to consider how they might embody this man of action's core values: to dare greatly, think boldly, live passionately, and care deeply.
A Sustainable Museum Built for the Badlands
The museum will be the most sustainable presidential library ever made. We are designing the library with rigorous and ambitious energy model targets, material standards, and sourcing guidelines, including use of reclaimed timber, Living Building Challenge-compatible materials, and a variety of best practices to conserve energy during non-visitation hours.
A Childhood Fascination Spurs a Lifetime of Conservation
In this early gallery that evokes aspects of Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood home, we capture young TR’s insatiable curiosity for nature and adventure through a contemporary take on a Victorian “cabinet of curiosity.” Visitors engage with physical specimens and see them spring to life as animations, revealing the life cycle that fascinated a young TR, drove his science experiments, and sparked his imagination.
Narrative Galleries
The Narrative Galleries form a central spine of the experience and follow the chronology of Theodore Roosevelt’s life. Artifacts, period clothing, letters, books, and taxidermy fill the hall, as guests build a sense of TR’s growth over time as a public figure. They can explore and understand his philosophical, political, and social stances and causes, as well as his approach to politics, advocacy, and leadership throughout his life.
Adventure Galleries
Interspersed along the central axis of the Narrative Galleries are doorways to Adventure Galleries, which allow visitors to actively immerse themselves in the dramatic experiences that shaped this man of action. They are active galleries that prompt guests to do, and to build a sense of TR as a human. Each adventure gallery is designed around a core value or emotion that emerges from a pivotal and transformative moment in TR’s life. The value or emotion shapes the storytelling, experiences and visitor takeaway in that gallery.
At the cowboy campfire, shadow cowboys share stories about that “crazy knickerbocker come west” who “earned his way into the respect of every cowboy at the round up.” TR’s time in Medora as a cowboy is the stuff of legends: visitors hear about him wrangling horse thieves, playing sheriff, and evolving into an iconic
