'Experimental museum' headed to Whittier Peninsula this year
The Dublin design company Roto is planning to open an "experimental museum" this year in a former warehouse on the Whittier Peninsula in the Brewery District.
The 20-year-old company, which designs exhibits and attractions for museums and other destinations, has leased 30,000 square feet in the former Lazarus warehouse on the peninsula for the first space of its own open to the public.
Roto described the museum as a "new form of interactive engagement" and said it will share more details and renderings before the space opens late this year.
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“The future of museums and attractions is being shaped by creative design technology," Joseph Wisne, Roto’s founding partner, said in a news release. "We are excited to be building something truly original that will only be found here in Columbus.”
Roto describes itself as "the largest design/build company in North America for experience and attraction design, specializing in highly immersive media and physical interactivity."
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The company said it has worked with more than 250 museums, zoos and other attractions across the world, including the Smithsonian, Equal Justice Initiative, Google, COSI and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
"Since launching in 2004, the firm has grown from 12 (employees) to nearly 100 in Columbus, and $35 million in revenue in 2023," said Roto's Marketing Director Rachel Escusa. "Along the way, Roto acquired zoo/aquarium and theme fabrication firms, expanding its capabilities and allowing it to become the largest museum design-builder in North America."
The company's most recent projects opened a few weeks ago, in the Kaleideum in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and, this week, in the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.
Escusa noted, however, that the Whittier Peninsula project "will be such a different experience than our typical work with museums, science centers, zoos/aquariums, attractions, etc."
Roto has contracted with Columbus-based architecture firm MA Design to help create the Whittier Peninsula space.
Roto will occupy part of what is called The Audubon, a 1950s-era distribution center that is the last remaining original structure on the Whittier Peninsula. Other tenants in the 100,000-square-foot space include Nocterra Tap, Vertical Adventures and The Fit Club.
“When we saw the plans for the experimental museum, we knew immediately that we wanted it to be a part of The Audubon,” said David Bishoff, president of the E.V. Bishoff Company, which owns and manages the building. “The talent at Roto is certainly in a class by itself.”
jweiker@dispatch.com
@JimWeiker
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What is Dubiln design firm Roto planning on the Whittier Peninsula?
