Johnston Marklee’s exhibition design for the tenth presentation of the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, Making Home, reimagines the historic Carnegie mansion, remaking the home as a new setting for the work of the twenty-five participants in the exhibition. The design reconnects all four floors for the first time in a single exhibition through architectural adaptations, furniture, and material finishes. Establishing connections across spaces that formerly served the diverse needs of family and staff, from the basement to the third floor, foregrounds the importance of access and connectivity to cultivate a sense of belonging.

The exhibition design orients visitors in the central halls on each floor. Once places of passage separated from the functional rooms at the building’s perimeter, these central rooms are reimagined as domestically scaled spaces of comfort, community engagement, and activation by the participants throughout the museum—eroding the original mansion’s hierarchy of served and servant spaces. Across each floor, the exhibition design instills a balance of intimacy and interiority with porosity and visibility, drawing the diverse installation environments into conversation with one another and with the historic mansion.