Kidzu Children’s Museum

Kidzu Children’s Museum, a hands-on museum for children under age eight, required a temporary location for use while funds are raised for a permanent location.

Lord Aeck Sargent’s Chapel Hill office worked with the museum to achieve a well-designed renovation of a downtown storefront. The project goals included:

• Creating a strong visual impression
• Creating a “professional” look to convey the organization’s commitment to providing a well thought-out experience
• Maximizing exhibit space
• Minimizing construction costs

Finish and fixture selections are durable and brightly colored. Whimsical details, such as circular, colored cuts in the walls that reflect the circular colored cutouts in the carpet, are employed throughout the museum. Bathrooms have wall murals that skillfully play with scale; e.g., one mural is an enlarged jungle that makes viewers feel small, another is a small jungle that makes viewers feel large.

LAS provided pro bono design and construction administration services and worked to acquire material donations for the project. To further save costs, existing track lighting was reused and new lighting added only in the reception, art room, bathroom and corridor areas. This, along with donations of overhead and profit from contractor Additions Plus, resulted in a project constructed for  one third of actual market cost.   

Practice Areas