EDX Seattle

In the 1820s, to support trade with Mexico, US surveyors expanded the traditional routes used by Native Americans to establish the Santa Fe Trail. In 1851 the US Government built Fort Union along the trail to help protect land acquired in 1848 through war with Mexico. For forty years, 1851-1891, Fort Union functioned as a hub of commerce, and an agent of profound political and cultural change throughout the Southwest.
The new exhibits at Fort Union provide diverse perspectives on this complex history telling the stories of American Indian Tribes for whom the region is part of their traditional homelands; local Hispano farmers, tradespeople, and millers who provided the fort with food and goods; and the soldiers, workers, women, and children who supported the functioning of the fort.
A replica freighter (covered wagon) of the fort era serves as a central feature of the exhibits which utilize a variety of media including, AV elements, 3D full-scale human figures, and a variety of tactile and interactive exhibit components.

It is so rewarding for our design team to see a project become reality! Great Sand Dunes Visitor Center has brand new exhibits designed by us and is open to the public, be sure to make this a stop next time you are in Colorado.

Happy International Women's Day from EDX!
The remainder of the team is out on a site visit, so coincidentally our staff meeting today was very X chromosome-heavy!
EDX wants to take this opportunity to thank the women of EDX. We appreciate the enthusiasm and creativity that each of you brings to work every day.

You have arrived! Most of our projects begin with an exhibit panel that lets visitors know where they’ve arrived and invites them to experience this place.

To design and write the graphic, we ask: What do people need to see and hear in this spot so that they feel comfortable?
Here are three different examples of outdoor welcome panels EDX designed for state and national parks. The look and feel of each one is different because of the unique qualities of the place, visitors, and story.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument:
Standing in broad daylight, visitors arriving to Timpanogos Cave NM needed to see a glimpse of the wonders that await them underground, and to set the stage for a respectful visit to this fragile resource.

Coronado National Memorial:
This panel needed to draw visitors into a story that happened a long time ago—and maybe didn’t even happen in this exact location. The park is on the US-Mexico border so the panel also needed to reassure English and Spanish speakers that the exhibits would speak to them in their language.

Moran State Park:
Visitors arriving at this panel have worked hard to get here—so the panel needs to recognize their effort. Located at a sweeping vista, we knew visitors would want to focus on what they can see. We kept it short and sweet with a few useful nuggets of information to enhance the view.

It's been a whirlwind of a year and in that spirit we celebrated the holidays by playing WhirlyBall! What is WhirlyBall you ask? It is a competitive sport which combines lacrosse, basketball, and bumper cars. Most importantly it was a lot of fun for the team and a great way to close out 2021. We wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!

EDX is excited to share that our new exhibit at Women's Rights National Historical Park is open! The historic Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, NY is the site of the first Women's Rights Convention in the U.S. The Park's vision was to preserve the character of the space, while integrating interpretive elements that suggest the missing features of the building and provide context for the Convention itself. With a full visitor center and museum next door, our new design for the Chapel provides an enhanced visitor experience that connects visitors to the legacy of the Convention, which launched the Women's Suffrage movement in the U.S. Congratulations to our friends at the Park on the opening of the Chapel. And thank you to Southern Custom Exhibits for your excellent production craftsmanship.

It is important to note that while women eventually gained the right to vote in 1920, many states passed laws that discriminated against African American men and women, limiting their right to vote. To learn more about their story, please refer to the linked article from the National Park Service:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/black-women-and-the-fight-for-voting-rights.htm

EDX has been fortunate to have our offices in Gene Zema's architecturally important office and studio building, highlighted in this article about his life and work. The building is wonderful to work in and has held up well through the years. It is a small gem in the midst of ever-taller Eastlake buildings. His contributions to Northwest Regional Architecture as one of the founding members of the Northwest School movement will be remembered.

In Memoriam: Gene Zema Born on September 2, 1926, Gene grew up on a farm in California in the Sacramento Valley. He came to the University of Washington as an engineering student in 1944. He then served in the Navy during World War II, and upon returning to the University of Washington, changed programs and joined the Dep...

In late August, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes dedicated the exhibits for Pacific Creek along the Snake River with park staff. We are very excited that these signs will be installed soon—we’re hoping to see them on our upcoming site visit! While EDX is at the park, we plan to meet with tribal and park representatives to discuss more opportunities to educate and inform park visitors about the tribes’ profound connections to this part of their ancestral homelands.

Happy First Day of Autumn! We’re celebrating with an exhibit about the changing seasons and traditional indigenous ecological knowledge we developed with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and Grand Teton National Park. This panel is the result of much collaboration and cooperation among dedicated tribal representatives, terrific park staff, and EDX designers. Consider the seasonal practices of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes—do you share any of these autumn traditions? If you feel like taking a deep dive into Shoshone-Bannock history, this website is a great starting point http://www.sbtribes.com/about/

One of the great things about exhibit design is that we interact with a variety of professions over the lifetime of a project, and we always learn something new from these collaborations. Our recent call for artists for the Bellevue Japanese American Legacy Project put us in touch with our three finalists: Shogo Ota, Mari Shibuya and Erin Shigaki! They were all amazing to work with and we encourage you to check out their work (see links below).

https://www.tiremanstudio.com/mural

https://www.marishibuya.com/murals

https://www.purplegatedesign.com/projects/

EDX team members went on a site visit to the Everglades National Park earlier this summer! We are very grateful to the onsite team at the Park, who were not deterred by the varying weather conditions and showed our staff around their park for three days. Our team came back with tons of content ideas, reference pictures, and only a few mosquito bites 🦟

We are so excited to announce that Moran State Park visitor center is now open, with brand new exhibits! Big thank you to CREO Industrial Arts , Larry Eifert and the Washington State Parks team for being amazing collaborators on this project, and for working so hard to create a great exhibit.