Exhibits / Digital Experiences / Immersive Environments

French Valley Discovery Hangar

Riverside County, California2026 · Completed

Suspended aircraft and a flight-history display in the Discovery Hangar. — Completed aviation exhibit hall.

A child interacting with a colorful digital display. — Digital interaction offers another entry point into discovery.

Visitors experimenting together at a hands-on aviation exhibit. — Learning through testing and participation.

Visitors facing three large aviation media screens. — Historical and future-focused media within the visitor journey.

Colorful airport-code graphics incorporated into an exhibit detail. — An airport-inspired graphic language at the scale of the detail.

A broad view of the discovery hangar shows exhibits and colorful aircraft overhead. — An overall view of the completed discovery hangar.

A flight simulator screen is set within a sculptural white and orange surround. — A dedicated simulator station invites visitors to explore flight.

A hands-on experiment station sits beneath suspended airplane models. — Hands-on stations connect the physics of flight with the larger exhibition.

Opening-day guests gathered beneath a canopy, facing a speaker at a podium framed by balloons and flags. — Opening day at the French Valley Discovery Hangar.

A family-focused aviation discovery center where visitors explore the history, science, and future of flight through hands-on experiments, physical exhibits, digital interactives, and media.

My contribution

I led the overall design vision, experiential strategy, and multidisciplinary team from early concept through implementation. Our team developed interpretive content, graphics, and physical experiences, with specialized media partners integrated into the visitor journey.

How can aviation history become something you can touch and test?

Designed around the visitor

Audience research considered age ranges, regional travel distances, and family groups. The resulting journey offers different levels of physical, digital, and interpretive engagement, giving visitors several ways into the science of flight.

One connected experience

Architecture, exhibit design, UI/UX, graphics, content, media, fabrication, and technology were coordinated together. Historical storytelling sits alongside direct experimentation and a forward-looking view of aviation.

From concept to participation

The completed spaces put the exhibits into use: visitors test principles, explore digital media, and learn together. The design strategy also considered flexibility, maintenance, and the cost of continued operation.

Opening day

The opening-day gathering marked the transition from design and fabrication to a place for the community. The Discovery Hangar welcomed visitors into an experience built around curiosity, shared discovery, and hands-on exploration of flight.

Collaboration & credits

Practice: PBK / Ether.
Photography: Michael Zepeda.

Image credits

Completed aviation exhibit hall. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.
Digital interaction offers another entry point into discovery. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.
Learning through testing and participation. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.
Historical and future-focused media within the visitor journey. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.
An airport-inspired graphic language at the scale of the detail. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.
Opening day at the French Valley Discovery Hangar. — Photography: Michael Zepeda.

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