In thinking about how to help Tigard residents envision a new public plaza, PSU’s School of Architecture was tasked with designing a placemaking installation at the future Universal Plaza. That design challenge resulted in a new concept: a mobile museum.
Conceptualized by architecture student Nyaz Addision in the fall 2020 Architecture 480 studio, the mobile museum provides an opportunity for passive engagement — vital in the COVID-19 era — and a sense of space, along with a chance to educate visitors on a community issue.
The mobile design creates a more flexible space that allows the museum to travel to different communities, providing greater and more equitable access. The outside installation also allows the community to engage with the space in a different way.
Todd Ferry, associate director of PSU School of Architecture’s Center for Public Interest Design, tasked PSU alum Molly Esteve with leading the project through her position as design director with City Repair, an organization that facilitates community placemaking. The museum installation was then designed and built in collaboration with 5 Oaks Museum.
Esteve said the museum was conceived as a space that could move as needed to meet the needs of the people.
“It brought in a really different way of working in terms of curatorial thought to how things are displayed and how they can be interactive,” she said.
The exhibit from 5 Oaks explored the history of the Kalapuyan people, who are native to the area, and urged viewers to think critically about the representation of Indigenous history. The panels displayed on the mobile museum took original exhibit pieces that weren’t written by Kalapuyan people and rewrote the information to more accurately reflect their history. This was done with the help of Curator Steph Littlebird Fogel, a member of the Grand Ronde and Kalapuya.
“We wanted to give more visibility to counter-narratives that challenge dominant narratives,” Esteve said. “Confronting that was a really important part of the project. And the idea of a mobile museum itself is that counter-narratives should have a more flexible architecture and they don't necessarily need to exist within traditional museum space.”
The first museum was on display in Tigard from April 22 through June 9, coinciding with the bloom of Camas lilies which were planted in the surrounding field, further establishing a sense of place.
The museum structure and installation boards will now return to 5 Oaks for further use. The project, Esteve said, will better inform future mobile museums — the next of which is already underway.
Partnering with the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), the second mobile museum, designed by PSU architecture students Kaylyn Berry, Leigh Seibert and Zane Ross, will tell the story of those experiencing houselessness during recent Oregon wildfires. Research conducted by HRAC found that people experiencing houselessness were often left out of outreach efforts and support and suffered significant health impacts from the smoke. In addition, people who lost their homes due to wildfire were given access to services, shelters, and other assistance that was not always made available to people who had been previously houseless.
Marta Petteni, a designer and research analyst with HRAC, said she first noticed this issue while volunteering at a local emergency shelter during the 2020 Labor Day Fires.
“That sparked a conversation about how to make emergency responses more inclusive and just, while exploring how our terminology impacts the action we take on the ground,” Petteni said. “The goal is to improve our outreach and relief efforts for the next wildfire season because these types of natural disasters are cyclical and their impacts are increasing with climate change.”
The museum’s structure is being completed this summer, with an anticipated community launch in September. But the panels containing the information are already on display in the windows at 411 NW Park Ave #101 as part of the Vanport Mosaic Festival. Much like the first mobile museum, plans for the second to be repurposed are also in motion. A second set of panels in partnership with the AfroVillage were created to fit on the same mobile structure, to be on display when the fire narratives project is complete.
“We thought it was great to think about this mobile structure as a more flexible device able to support additional projects and different educational, innovative and activism-focused efforts,” Petteni said.