Exhibition Designer

Who We Are

Founded in 1926, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is a private, not-for-profit educational, historic, and cultural institution that owns and operates one of the largest and best-known museum complexes in the world. Our mission is “that the future may learn from the past” through preserving and restoring 18th-century Williamsburg, Virginia’s colonial capital. We engage, inform, and inspire people to learn about this historic capital, the events that occurred here, and the diverse peoples who helped shape a new nation.

Today, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living history museum in the U.S. The Historic Area is the 301-acre restored colonial capital with 89 original buildings and 525 buildings reconstructed to how they appeared in the 18th century through extensive archaeological, architectural, and documentary research. The Historic Area is staffed by highly trained, historically dressed interpreters and expert tradespeople who bring the 18th century to life. The Foundation also owns and operates two world-class museums, the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, The Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute, and a renowned research library, the John D Rockefeller Jr Library.

Additionally, Colonial Williamsburg is home to five world class accommodations at the Williamsburg Inn, Williamsburg Lodge Autograph Collection, the Griffin Hotel, the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotels and Suites and the unique Colonial Houses in the Historical Area. Visitors may also indulge in food and drink at our many on site restaurants and taverns that blend a historically inspired dining experience with today’s evolved tastes. Each year over 5 million people visit Williamsburg and another 20 million engage with us digitally.

About the Position

The Exhibition Designer creates engaging, and unique, exhibitions and environments to enhance educational goals and interpretive vision through the placement of collections and visual communications, by means of spatial analysis, narrative, color, lighting, and innovative integration of informative elements, technology, and interactive components.

Essential Functions:

1. Conceptualize and design exhibitions, environments, display elements and components for each project, envisioning the educational narratives by materializing them into a physical space, from design sketches and models throughout the design development process to the final designs.

2. Present design development drawings for reviews and incorporate changes as directed.

3. Produce detailed 2D and 3D CAD exhibition drawings, floorplans, elevations, RCPs, and display furniture for each project.

4. Create materials and finishes specifications for exhibition components and environments that meet museum best practices and standards.

5. Create final exhibition drawing packages for the fabrication and buildout of all components for each project and collaborate with in-house production teams and external vendors to coordinate production and installation.

6. Create a schedule and a budget for each design project.

7. Design and coordinate a lighting plan and lighting budget for each exhibition.

8. Collaborate with the team in the fabrication, detailing, installation, and deinstallation of exhibition components and environments.

9. Work collaboratively with exhibition department colleagues and other internal and external project stakeholders.

Required and Preferred Education and Experience:

Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in a design field: Architecture, Exhibits, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Fine Art, Communication Arts
• 3

years’ experience as an exhibition designer or a related design field
• Experience in design development processes
• Provide an accessible link to an online portfolio of relevant work

Preferred:
• 4 years’ experience in the design of exhibitions
• Experience using project management software

Qualifications:
• Able to produce scaled plans, elevations, sections, and shop drawings for each project
• Able to manage multiple design projects simultaneously
• Able to assess physical site details and translate them into precise drawings
• Proficiency in CAD: Vectorworks is preferred
• Proficiency in hand sketching
• Proficiency in 3-D modeling
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft 365
• Able to build scale models and mockups
• Knowledge of exhibition production methods
• Knowledge of museum exhibition production materials
• Knowledge of exhibition lighting and AV technology
• Strong organizational and time-management skills
• Excellent verbal and written skills to clearly present and communicate designs through sketches, detailed drawing, models, and renderings.