Gallery: An Innovative Museum That Lets You Play the Role of a Designer

  • Image may contain Museum Flooring Lighting Shop and Wood
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    01

    Making Design

    After three years of renovations, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum reopens tomorrow.
  • Image may contain Human Person Footwear Clothing Apparel Shoe Flooring Floor Coat Overcoat and Suit
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    02

    Gesture Match

    A long roster of design teams, such as Local Projects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Pentagram, worked on new typography and exhibits for the museum.
  • Image may contain Human Person Water Animal Sea Life and Aquarium
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    03

    Immersion Room 2

    The Immersion Room is a key attraction. Via a touch screen display, visitors can select from thousands of historical wallpaper patterns and see them projected at full scale on the walls.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing and Apparel
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    04

    Immersion Room

    Snippets of audio from the designers play in the room.
  • The Process Lab gives visitors a chance to learn more about design thinking and to prototype their own ideas at...
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    05

    Process Lab

    The Process Lab gives visitors a chance to learn more about design thinking, and to prototype their own ideas at arts-and-crafts-like tables.
  • Image may contain Sports Sport Team Sport Team Softball and Baseball
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    06

    Interactive Pen 2

    An electronic pen, designed and manufactured just for Cooper Hewitt, will be available in February. With it, users can digitally save items from the collections or draw on the touch screens.
  • Image may contain Human Person and Game
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    07

    Interactive Pen and Table 1

    Local Projects created an algorithm for the touch screens that can respond to hand drawn shapes. If a visitor draws a curve, he'll see objects with that same curve appear.
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Coat Overcoat Suit Electronics Monitor Screen and Display
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    08

    Making Design 1

    Only some of the museum's extensive permanent collection can fit into Carnegie Mansion. so the pen allows access to archives that aren't on display.
  • Image may contain Furniture and Home Decor
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    09

    Making Design 2

    The design process figures heavily in the exhibits. Here, from left to right, is a graphic breakdown of how the red and pink poster came to life.
  • Image may contain Wood Hardwood Flooring Indoors Interior Design Furniture and Floor
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    10

    Installation view: Models & Prototypes Gallery

    By pairing its collection with new, cutting edge technologies, the museum bridges the history of design with its future. Here, old school prototypes.
  • Image may contain Human Person Footwear Clothing Apparel Shoe Floor Flooring and Door
    Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
    11

    Tools

    In a nearby gallery, a sketchbot draws visitors' portraits in sand.
Read More
Ebay Has to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Its Unhinged Harassment Campaign
For months on end, eBay employees and contractors made life hell for a couple that had criticized the company. Six years later, the company is finally paying up.
Lauren Goode
Laura Loomer's Reversal on Ukraine Stirs Up the MAGA Civil War
Donald Trump's base has been increasingly spilt. Laura Loomer's sudden embrace of Ukraine has only widened that divide.
David Gilbert
Is the Electric Trike the Next Big Thing in Shared Micromobility?
Veo is launching accessibility-focused electric tricycles in Denver, with plans to put its e-trikes on the streets nationwide.
Boone Ashworth
What WIRED Writers Would Actually Give Their Moms
Your mom never gets you a thoughtless gift, so you shouldn’t get her one, either. Here’s every cool gift WIRED writers would give their mothers.
Nena Farrell
Which Apple Watch Should You Buy?
Should you splurge on the new Series 11, or will the SE 3 do? Let us help you figure out which version to get (and which to avoid).
Boutayna Chokrane
12 Adventurous Gifts for Hikers, Backpackers, and Outdoorsy People
Let them pick out their own hiking boots. Instead, try gifting a useful blade or a nature journal to delight your outdoorsy friend.
Scott Gilbertson
A Two-Person Startup Has Fixed One of the Most Hated Sounds in Modern Life
Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Jeremy White
Can the New York Times Save Journalism From Our AI Overlords?
In 2023, the Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. They’ve since spent more than $20 million on the case, and publisher A.G. Sulzberger has no plans to stop fighting it.
Katie Drummond
Silicon Valley’s Next IPO Billionaires Are Coming. Nonprofits Are Ready for Them
Anthropic and OpenAI employees are expected to give generously after their companies go public. “It’s going to be a wild ride,” says one nonprofit leader.
Paresh Dave
The Dyson V16 Piston Animal Can Do It All
Dyson’s new stick vacuum can vacuum and mop in a single cordless device—if you’re willing to really splurge.
Nena Farrell
‘They’re Fucking a Lot of People’: 7-OH Users Brace for DEA Ban
The opioid-like compound, which is found in kratom, can cause brutal withdrawal symptoms and will soon be a controlled substance. Some users tell WIRED it has relieved their pain and anxiety.
Manisha Krishnan
An Extreme Solar Storm May Be Even More Devastating Than Previously Imagined
Scientists have long assumed that there’s an upper limit to the intensity of the solar winds that reach Earth. New research suggests there’s not—and the implications are alarming.
Javier Carbajal