Integrated into a 17-acre site at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the new Natural History Museum of Utah is a 153,000-square-foot building that merges with the surrounding hills and echoes natural forms. The building’s material palette recalls Utah’s rich geological and mineralogical history. A variegated pattern of copper panels on the building’s exterior extends at angles referencing the mountainous landscape and the geophysical processes that created it. The building itself is divided into 2 wings, one with laboratories for research and collection storage, the other for interpretive exhibitions—everything from dinosaur skeletons to geological exhibits. Permanent exhibitions are designed as a system of trails, allowing visitors to choose their own paths.

A comprehensive environmental graphics, donor recognition, and wayfinding sign program was designed for the Museum’s exterior and interior spaces including identification signs for all galleries, public spaces, cafe, museum shop, administrative offices, and meeting rooms, as well as directional/wayfinding, donor recognition, and code-required sign elements. Honoring the site’s natural surroundings, as well as the building architecture’s unique angular forms, the signs are fabricated in a wide range of regional materials used throughout the building, such as corten steel, copper, and aluminum.

This project received a LEED Gold certification from the U. S. Green Building Council and was recognized by eg Magazine, Graphis, and the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD) for Design Excellence in Environmental Graphic Design.