Queens Museum

Located in the New York City Building, the historic pavilion designed for the 1939 World’s Fair, was home to the United Nations General Assembly between 1946 and 1950 and converted into Queens Museum of Art in 1972. In 2009 the museum embarked on a $69 million expansion project, led by Grimshaw Architects which was originally slated to be completed in October 2013. The Queens Museum has focused on outreach and access for a wide range of audiences and is known for international contemporary art exhibitions that reflect the cultural diversity of the borough. Among its permanent exhibitions, the museum is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a scale model of the five boroughs built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, and updated until today. 

The building expansion continued until 2015, when the new branding identity, signage system, and environmental graphics were announced to the public.

Project Credits
Pentagram
Eddie Opara
Brankica Harvey
Pedro Mendes

Client
Queens Museum

Architect
Grimshaw Architects

Photography Credits
Pentagram
Grimshaw Architects
Queens Museum

The building facade is composed of a gradated custom frit glass panels that dissipate the light creating a unique effect. The same dotted grid was applied to the exterior signage and used to highlight and anchor content. The interior signage utilizes circular icon elements referencing the exterior dot matrix but in a large scale.

A full comprehensive styleguide was created to explain and support all the identity elements, such as custom typeface, iconography set, signage and exhibition elements, and they should be utilized and applied.

The collateral and external communication items piece all the brand parts together in a unique cohesive language that represents Queens Museum and its values.

Back to Design