The Virginia Discovery Museum is a Charlottesville-based, non-profit that serves community children. It’s a safe, educational museum with hands-on activities and exhibits to teach community youth about science, technology, math, music, agriculture, and basic social skills. They offer reduced rates and waived entrance fees for low-income kids. Martin Horn teamed up with Pye Interiors to design and develop a fun refresh of the 2400 SF front gallery. We worked with Charlottesville-area trade contractors to get material donations, trade volunteers, and reduced fees. We waived our supervision, project management, and construction fee to help out this local non-profit that is creating a lasting impact in our community. Our scope included all new carpet tiles, acoustical ceiling tiles, paint, lighting, exhibits, reception desk, sound and music studio, arts & crafts room, and a refreshed entrance/reception area.

After great success with the front gallery renovation, it became apparent that the back gallery also needed some updating. Once again, Martin Horn felt a great desire to provide services to our community partner. We worked with Ashley Fallwell of Dalgliesh Gilpin and Paxton Architects to re-imagine the back gallery. The concept was to bring a lot of the fun and exciting rural surroundings into an approachable, kid-friendly set of exhibits. We focused on the Blue Ridge Mountains, Apples, and Agriculture. We built several custom fixtures including a large wooden tractor, a cave, and a lookout tower. Once again, we rallied local businesses to donate materials and skilled labor where possible, in order to keep costs down on the project. After completion of these 2 projects, the revenue and museum memberships doubled, ensuring that this local attraction could help serve our communities children for years.

PROJECT COMPLETED: April 2016

PROJECT SIZE: 3,600 SF

CONTRACT VALUE:  $86,000

CONTRACT TYPE:  Lump Sum