Young At Art Museum

EVERYONE (850,000 visitors since opening) visiting YAA is incredibly amazed with the exhibitions and the Young At Art Museum experience!  Thank you to Architecture Is Fun for their creative vision and artful design that assists in defining YAA!
~ Mindy Shrago, Executive Director/CEO, Young At Art

Shifting the museum paradigm, Young At Art Museum takes a sophisticated design approach to bridging the gap between an adult art museum and a children’s museum. The art museum for children features 22,000 SF of exhibit space designed by Architecture Is Fun, rich in branded environments, art installations and art-making opportunities.  The John S. & James L. Knight Foundation says that Young At Art Museum is “one of South Florida’s most transformative arts initiatives”.

The interior exhibits, galleries and art installations were enhanced by layers of meaning and method. All throughout the museum, there is beauty and the development of aesthetic study:

° A participatory design approach beginning with a museum symposium questioning Euro-centric approaches concludes with 70 artists and creative disciplines represented in the galleries, connecting art with making, seeing with critical thinking, art objects with art-making, with beauty and aesthetic study throughout.
° Young artists engage in socially transformative experiences and art-making grounded in the critique of art, architecture, design, history and culture.
° Developed in a public/private partnership with Broward County, this art museum for children shares one responsible facility with a county library, connecting art and experience to literacy and story, while creating awareness of the built and natural environment.
° An elegant and clever approach to enfolding experience, education, and exhibit equally, the innovative design forges thematic galleries where art-making, art installation and art-centric environments transform learning about art into using art for learning.
° Four core galleries define learning through art: ArtScapes: discover art’s histories and your place amongst its timeline, CultureScapes:  understand artful traditions and bridging cultures, NatureScapes: call attention to nature’s fragility, and WonderScapes: delight in the joy of early learning.
° Through hands-on experiences and acts of art-making, young artists engage in critical thinking, observation, and problem-solving, nurturing creativity, collaboration and innovation.
° In addition to hosting interactive galleries, the design delineates engaging public space that is adopted for a wide range of community, museum, and library use.

Simultaneously artful and art-filled, the design is motivation and map of a new sector of socially inventive museums, the art museum for children.

This is amazing…I feel like this museum is more about touching and feeling and learning, rather than how everything is fed to kids at other places…there is so much to do here that we will definitely be back again.
~ Adi Mendlestein, Parent, reported by the Sun Sentinel, June 15, 2012.

We love it…This museum is more hands-on than other places we go to. [My son] likes the doing and the climbing, so this is great!
~ Parent, reported by the Sun Sentinel, June 15, 2012.

I want to come back 50 times again!
~ Child, reported by the Miami Herald, May 5, 2012.

Architecture Is Fun’s approach is imaginative, yet pragmatic in nature. Throughout the process and with an unwavering commitment to the project, they listen and are open to dialogue, problem-solve seemingly with ease, all while providing visionary ideas that will forge new ground for the museum field.
~ Mindy Shrago, Executive Director/CEO, Young At Art

Awards & Recognitions:
Honor Award – Small Projects, American Institute of Architects Chicago, 2016,
[Cave Education Pavilion].
“Playful and innovative – something I would want to peek my head inside.”
~ AIA Chicago Design Jury.
Merit Award – Education, CODA Awards Collaboration of Design + Art, 2014,
[Cave Education Pavilion].
“What a fabulous entry it is! Our jurors were incredibly impressed with your explanation of the goals of the project and the integration of the artwork into the space. In addition, the collaboration process between all the parties involved is an outstanding example of artistic collaboration.”
~ CODAworx Editors.
First Place Award – Contract Project Small Firm, ASID Design Excellence Awards, 2014,[STEAM Recycled Workshop and Grotto].
An artful collaboration with artist Pablo Cano and filmmaker Clifton Childree.
Best Picks for the Field’s Finest, American Alliance of Museums, 2012.
Non-Profit Academy Award, UPNC Bank/Broward 2-1-1, 2012.
Best Museum Award – Kids Crown Award, South Florida Parenting, 2012.
Judges Choice Award for Best Museum, New Times, 2012.

 

Owner:  Young At Art Museum
Interior Architecture, Public Space & Exhibit Design:  Architecture Is Fun, Inc.
Curated Art, Furnishings, & Sourcing of Designed-Objects:  Fun Finders
Location:  Davie/Florida
Status:  Completed 2012
Photography:  © Doug Snower Photography & Emma Exley