Since the opening of the Oklahoma History Center in 2005, hsd has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the Oklahoma Historical Society. Working on the initial creative concepts for the Oil & Gas exhibition, hsd’s latest collaboration has been on the exciting new Crossroads of Commerce: A History of Free Enterprise in Oklahoma exhibit, opened to the public on 19 November.
Alisdair Hinshelwood, hsd’s Director and Designer, said: “hsd has maintained a creative collaboration with the Center’s team, since working on its original exhibits, developing concepts and assisting with the technical design development. This has proved to be a very rewarding and effective way of working.”
The new 8,000-square-foot, Crossroads of Commerce, exhibition tells the story of economic development in Oklahoma through five time periods from 1716 to the present day. In each section, the exhibit sets the stage of history with the challenges and opportunities that ended one era and began another. On to that stage march the men and women who had ideas, decided to invest and developed a business plan that worked in that particular place and time.
Larry O’Dell, Director of Special Projects & Development at the Oklahoma Historical Society, said: “The Oklahoma Historical Society is pleased with its ongoing relationship with Haley Sharpe Design. Since the mid-2000s hsd has helped the Oklahoma History Center be at the forefront of museum storytelling. We enjoy working with them and the process of creating these innovative exhibits.”
The rest of the story is adapting to subsequent changes, opening doors of opportunity for others, and giving back to the community through jobs, philanthropy and a better quality of life. The intent is to connect the dots between history and economic development in a way that celebrates creativity and hard work and inspires young people to take a chance.
The exhibit also features a number of structural reproductions and eye-popping interactive opportunities. In one section, visitors can enter the simulated cockpit of a Lockheed Vega airplane where they can fly over Oklahoma City and Tulsa with skylines as they would have appeared in 1935. Other features include scenes of a newspaper printing operation, grist mill, cotton gin, grain elevator, Cain’s Ballroom, a TG&Y store in the 1950s, the studios of WKY-Radio and WKY-TV, the Shelter Church Studio, and the Thunder scoreboard from Chesapeake Energy Arena.
hsd is currently working on several exciting new projects including the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument & State Park in Maryland, US and the British Postal Museum and Mail Rail Experience in London.
