Designing the Future Galleries, Fall 2022

As curatorial planning for the Museum’s future galleries advances and accelerates, the Museum has brought on board New York–based Studio Joseph as partners in the gallery design process. Chosen after a competitive international selection process, Studio Joseph emerged as the Museum’s preferred collaborator for what Museum Director James Steward describes as “a balance of elegantly refined past work and a commitment to design integrity that aligns well with our vision and that of Adjaye Associates and Cooper Robertson,” the design team for new building.

Studio Joseph’s work is focused primarily on museums and other cultural institutions and is led by founder Wendy Evans Joseph, who spent twelve years at Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, where she worked on design projects for largescale public and cultural facilities. Recipient of the Rome Prize during that time, Joseph has a profound appreciation for the historical context of architecture that resonates deeply with Princeton’s globe-spanning collections.

Joseph’s last project at Pei Cobb Freed was for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and more recent projects at the firm she founded have included design work for the London Mithraeum, a space in Bloomberg’s European headquarters presenting the history of ancient London; more than a dozen exhibition installations for the Museum of the City of New York; the orientation galleries at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC; a permanent exhibition for the National Museum of the American Indian, also in Washington; the new MIT Museum galleries opening later this year; and architecture and exhibition design for the new National Women’s History Museum.

Key members of the Studio Joseph team include design director Monica Coghlan, who leads the firm’s exhibition design projects, and project director José Luis Vidalón. Joseph has spoken of architecture as a “team sport” and attributes some of her success to the fact that clients “know that I’ll stick with them, be flexible, and never give up on quality and their vision.”