Local Projects

Local Projects is a multidisciplinary experience and exhibition design studio based in New York City. Founded in 2001 by Jake Barton, it creates visitor environments that bring together physical design, creative technology, media production and narrative storytelling. Its work spans museums, cultural institutions, civic memorials, educational centers, public spaces and brand destinations.

The studio approaches exhibitions as connected physical and digital experiences. Architecture, industrial design, interactive media and storytelling inform projects from their earliest stages, with an emphasis on how visitors encounter and engage with content. Its practice combines interpretive planning and audience research with the development of environments, installations and media that communicate cultural, historical and institutional subjects.

From planning to launch

Local Projects provides services across the production process, beginning with discovery workshops, positioning, audience research and interpretive strategy. Concept work includes exhibit and master planning, environmental design, fundraising materials and physical design coordination. During development, the studio produces content, 3D models, renderings, interaction designs and prototypes, using user testing to inform the experience.

Production capabilities include motion and graphic design, software and hardware development, linear media and installation. Materials sampling, subcontractor management and ongoing maintenance extend its involvement through fabrication, launch and subsequent operation. This range allows the studio to contribute both the interpretive framework of an exhibition and the systems through which visitors experience it.

Cultural and public experiences

Its portfolio includes interactive exhibitions and historical storytelling for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the voice-activated language museum Planet Word, and immersive interpretation at Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center. Other work includes London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s ARTLENS Gallery, and the Cooper Hewitt collection experience involving the Pen and Immersion Room.

The report also identifies commissions for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, the Shockoe Institute’s Expanding Freedom center, the United Nations Geneva Visitor Center and the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem. Across these projects, the studio applies exhibition design and interactive media to subjects ranging from language and archaeology to civil rights and public history.