Atomic Cities
Exhibitions KY + NL

Objectives: Architects spend a considerable amount of time on communication. Whether it’s explaining complicated, technical issues to a client, or else presenting on behalf of a client to the public or zoning board, architects are increasingly challenged to clearly articulate complex information and to make a convincing case. The studio challenged students to develop concise and compelling exhibits that sensitively convey site history and to communicate complex remediation technologies, while conveying their optimism and imagination for Paducah’s future. The venues, one at the center of architecture and urban design culture in Europe, and the other closer to home to laypeople, compelled students to find ways to communicate through the things they make.

Outcomes: This studio produced numerous multi-media exhibition materials. For the Rotterdam exhibition, they produced an interactive physical model with writable surface and toolkit of useful parts, as well as a 250-year timeline marking progress from the plant’s construction in the 1950s to a prosperous, healthy and clean future centuries from now. For the National DOE CAB Meeting in Paducah, the studio curated several Paducah+ models to articulate the future-use scenarios, including an exhibit of 3D printed  “Remediation Seeds” to demonstrate the kinds of products that could be developed at a future “Remediation-Lab” on the PGDP site. These physical objects were accompanied by a series of large scale interpretive panels with drawings and diagrams. The exhibition returned to the University of Kentucky, at the Center for Applied Energy Research atrium for the remainder of 2012.