Children's Museum of Pittsburgh Climber Competition
2009

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh sponsored a competition to design an interactive climbing structure to be housed in the dome of it's historic 1939 Buhl Planetarium. Rich Brilliant Willing's Planetary Workshop concept was one of three proposals for the space.

About the Museum:
The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh provides innovative museum experiences that inspire joy, creativity and curiosity. "Play with Real Stuff" is the cornerstone of the Children’s Museum’s exhibit experience. Conceived by Museum staff, "Real Stuff" encourages children to find their own answers through hands-on exploration where process is valued over product - where the “real” supplants the virtual.

The Museum's brief:
Create something visually striking in order to create interest and augment the Museum’s design aesthetic, as well as be an interactive piece to engage visitors of all ages. Creativity and uniqueness are encouraged, visitor safety is of ultimate priority. The climber is to be seen as a piece of art.

Our concept:
Have you ever wanted to visit a distant planet? What kinds of things would you find there? What would they be made of? Maybe it wouldn’t be so unlike Earth. Maybe we could learn something about ourselves. The Planetary Workshop is a strange landscape, a menagerie of unfamiliar forms, exciting materials, exotic colors. It’s the skyline of some futuristic city, or a warehouse of galactic odds and ends, or it’s whatever you can possibly imagine it to be. It’s an environment for exploring beyond the everyday.