Winner 2025

Luci, an award-winning experience design studio for museums and brands, has partnered with The Brain Museum in Orange County, California, a new non-profit creating the first large-scale public museum dedicated entirely to neuroscience and its relationship to everyday life.

Luci will collaborate with The Planning Office for Culture to develop the museum's foundational Vision Plan. The two nationally recognised firms will work closely with The Brain Museum and its communities to turn this ambitious concept into a practical, actionable roadmap.

Why do certain memories stay with us for a lifetime while we can’t remember where we left our keys? What happens in the brain when we fall in love or dream? Why can't we tickle ourselves? Why are treatments still lacking for so many conditions that shape how we think and feel? What makes each of us who we are?

The brain influences every aspect of our lives, yet it can still seem mysterious and inaccessible to most people.

Facts alone don't make the brain feel relevant to our lives; personal experience does. The Brain Museum is built on this idea: people gain a deeper understanding of their own minds by exploring brain science firsthand, not just reading about it.

Luci and The Planning Office for Culture are now working to bring that vision to life, drawing on their expertise in experience design and cultural planning.

Bringing the vision to life

"A dream without a plan is just a wish," says Manuella Oliveira Yassa, PhD, founder and president of The Brain Museum.

"Partnering with Luci and The Planning Office for Culture is how this dream becomes a plan. They design places people never forget, and they share our conviction that a museum like this should be built not just for the public, but with the public.

"Together, we're creating a place where anyone can explore what makes them who they are."

Oliveira Yassa is a renowned neuroscientist and acclaimed science teacher dedicated to connecting scientific knowledge with the general public.

The partnership is beginning the museum's design process with a collaborative effort to define its mission and vision, develop initial exhibit ideas, identify target audiences and future spaces, and create a Vision Book to serve as a foundation for the museum's development.

From the outset, the process integrates community input to ensure the museum reflects the needs and hopes of future visitors. The museum announced earlier this year that this planning stage is funded by a grant from the Dana Foundation.

Shaping a new museum

Luci is spearheading the experience and exhibit design, with creative director Thomas Tzortzi overseeing the creative vision.

"At Luci, making complex ideas relevant, engaging, and memorable is a guiding principle," says AJ Goehle, Luci's CEO and founder.

Tzortzi adds: "The Brain Museum takes that principle even further. It's a chance to create true connection between fact and experience, expert and audience, neuroscience and everyday life, from the earliest stages."

Together with Luci, The Planning Office for Culture is developing the museum's strategy and future vision.

"It's a rare opportunity to help shape a museum around a field as dynamic and deeply human as neuroscience," says Cameron Boodram, principal and founder of The Planning Office for Culture.

"Our job is to ensure that the Brain Museum's mission, approach to public engagement and physical environment all create meaningful ways for people to connect with the science of how we think, feel and experience the world."

As planning begins, The Brain Museum invites anyone interested in shaping it to join the conversation: educators and school leaders, scientists and healthcare professionals, families and community members, donors and founding partners, and civic and business leaders seeking to establish a new cultural and educational landmark in Orange County.

Luci also recently opened a new London studio led by Josh Kirk and Tzortzi, emphasising a collaborative approach for clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.