For a new, LEED-certified visitor center at America’s most-visited national park, Formations designed, fabricated, and installed exhibits that tell the story of the Great Smoky Mountains. Artifacts, mannequins, and oral history recordings chronicle mountain life from the Native Americans and early homesteaders to the company logging towns, Depression-era CCC and WPA workers, and WWII conscientious objectors. Immersive exhibits explore the everyday lives of the people, the land they shaped, the crafts they mastered, and the tools they used—including a “moonshine” still! Visitors learn how industrial development and population pressures have changed the Smokies’ physical and cultural environment. Interactive devices such as flip books and graphic drums, archival oral history recordings, original illustrations, and eye-catching graphics all reinforce the story of the park from ancient times to now.

Client: National Park Service, Gatlinburg, Tennessee