Historic Duxford

A proud story by the people, for the people, routed in the history of Britain.

Exploring the working and domestic lives of people who lived and worked at Duxford in times of conflict and in peace, the graphic approach of the exhibition explores stories of heroism, love and loss in a style that feels historically relevant and intimately personal. Inspired by the resourcefulness of people at the time, the look and feel is deliberately low-fi, promoting hands-on interaction between visitors to connect them to the stories being told. Simple, utilitarian graphic devices are layered with archive materials to convey the depth of personal content, allowing stories to be told through people and their experiences, aligning the past with the present in a real life context

The intention was not to create barriers between the content and the visitor but create physical and emotional links. This approach was also adopted to the wayfinding. Creating a historic trail, wayfinding totems were designed to continue the historical story within the landscape of RAF Duxford. A series of simple totem structures were created that could also layer functional content with the archival material, displaying translucent photography of the historic site perfectly aligned with the modern day view, or using wind-up radios to bring the sounds of the past to modern-day ears.

Visitors could walk the landscape and not only orientate themselves within it, but also overlay the past onto the present through these totems to learn about historical stories of Duxford in context.

The discovery trail also had an audio function catering for visually impaired visitors, receiving a Jodi award for access in 2013.

Contacts

London

India House
45 Curlew Street
London
SE1 2ND

+44(0)2073789900

Hong Kong

7/F Contempo Place
81 Hung To Road
Kwun Tong
Kowloon HK

+85264000378