Entrance Experience / Father of Flight
The entrance featured a Renaissance-inspired archway structure, guiding visitors into the exhibition with large lightboxes introducing the key subjects Leonardo da Vinci is celebrated for. Following this, visitors encountered the "Father of Flight" area, where artisan-built replicas of da Vinci’s flying machine drawings were dramatically displayed against a backdrop of animated clouds projected and on LED panels hung from the ceiling, creating an immersive space for the audience.
After this, visitors entered a room showcasing high-quality replica codices displayed in glass cabinets. These codices, filled with da Vinci’s incredibly detailed drawings and meticulous notes, communicated the essence of his genius. This room highlighted how his preserved ideas in these codices are central to his lasting legacy, allowing visitors to experience up-close the depth of his intellectual contributions.
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Exploring Leonardo's Work
This area invites visitors to dive deeper into Leonardo da Vinci’s incredible body of work through four distinct experiences.
- The Secrets of Mona Lisa: In collaboration with renowned French optical engineer Pascal Cotte, we present his groundbreaking discoveries of hidden layers beneath the Mona Lisa, revealed through his L.A.M. scientific imagery technique. Visitors can explore these hidden details and gain insights into the deeper mysteries behind one of the world’s most famous paintings.
- Leonardo’s Art: A gallery that displays replicas of all of Leonardo’s known paintings, arranged chronologically. This allows visitors to experience his evolution as an artist and understand his life through the lens of his artworks, providing an up-close look at his masterpieces.
- Exploring the Human Anatomy: Large-scale prints of Leonardo’s detailed anatomy sketches are displayed for visitors to analyze. This section emphasizes his meticulous study of the human body, giving visitors a unique opportunity to view these incredible drawings in large format.
- The Vitruvian Man Interactive Experience: Developed in collaboration with a technology agency, this interactive experience allows visitors to compare their own body proportions to Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. Using cameras and AR technology, visitors can engage with the concept of divine proportions in a hands-on and immersive way.
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Leonardo's Machines
This section brings Leonardo da Vinci’s inventive genius to life through an extensive display of artisan recreations of his machine sketches. Divided into five categories—Aquatic and Hydraulic, Mechanical Principles, Civil Engineering, Music and Optics, and War Machines—visitors can explore his groundbreaking innovations across various fields. Each category showcases Leonardo’s visionary ideas, meticulously recreated to provide a tangible connection to his work.
The space was carefully designed to manage visitor flow, allowing guests to move sequentially through the displays and fully absorb the vastness of Leonardo’s inventions. This organization ensures an immersive and educational experience, offering deeper insights into da Vinci's mind as an inventor and engineer.
The Codex Atlanticus
As the climax of the exhibition, we had the rare privilege of featuring original manuscripts from the Codex Atlanticus, the most extensive collection of Leonardo’s writings, on loan from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
I designed this room to elevate the significance of these historic documents, working closely with museum display specialists to create light, temperature, and humidity-controlled cabinets. The room was kept intentionally dark, with strategic lighting drawing focus to key elements, creating an atmosphere of intimacy and reverence. This immersive design allowed visitors to deeply engage with Leonardo’s genius, making this final section a truly unforgettable moment in the exhibition.
