Roto, a leading planning & design-build firm, has announced that Prototype, its new experimental museum for adults, is nearly complete.
The first-of-its-kind cultural lab in downtown Columbus, Ohio, extends to almost 30,000 square feet. It seeks to advance the sector by inviting artists, technologists, designers, and visitors to co-create experiences that are subject to continuous public testing, development, and restaging.
Prototype will welcome its first test groups in early autumn and is set to open its doors to the public later in 2025. Tickets will be available on the museum’s website.
Joseph Wisne, CEO and founder of Roto and Prototype, says: “Opening Prototype is not the completion of a project but the start of a bold new experiment.
“We are curious to see what happens when the audience has a direct impact on what we as creators will do next. We expect not only patrons to be drawn to our experimental ideas, but also the broader museum field, which is eager to learn how we’ve harnessed AI, creative design technology, kinetic art, and immersive media to elevate the museum experience.”
Ever evolving experiences
The venue includes six room-scale stages, a full bar, and versatile spaces which have been developed to adapt to each new experience.
With its interiors and core technology systems nearly finished, the team is now moving on to install the initial slate of experiences. The exterior will be completed with a dramatic art façade, which will be lifted into position in early September. Prototype then plans to soft launch with test groups in the autumn, and open fully later in the year.
As the biggest museum design-build firm in North America, Roto envisioned Prototype as an R&D engine where concepts can be developed to museum-quality standards and then freely shared with the sector.
Dana Russell, marketing director, says: “At Prototype, there’s no velvet rope between ‘the museum’ and ‘the visitor’. We’re inviting the field to co-author what comes next, piloting new interpretive tools, testing media and scenography at room scale, and swapping notes in real time. If you’re hungry to experiment, bring your curiosity, bring your questions, and let’s build the next chapter together.”
The venue’s growing leadership team has extensive experience in the Ohio cultural space. Russell is joined by Kristal Bell, director of operations (Ohio History Connection), Josh Johnson, director of technology (Cleveland Museum of Natural History), and Natalie Pettit, experience manager.
They are accompanied by a cross-disciplinary crew of artists, engineers, animators, and fabricators who are all dedicated to developing room-scale, audience-responsive work.
Partnerships with BalletMet, Champaign Aviation Museum, and Meimage Dance (Taiwan) will feature in Prototype Version 1.0, and further cultural collaborations are to be confirmed. A BalletMet immersive ballet film is set to debut in mid-October at a private screening event, designed to support the venue’s testing phase and share work-in-progress with the community.
As the venue continually evolves through new partnerships and audience feedback, every visit will offer a new experience.
Prototype’s potential, Wisne says, extends beyond Columbus: “Museums everywhere face the same challenge: how do we stay relevant in a world of limitless entertainment options?
“Prototype is our answer, but it is also an open experiment. We hope our colleagues across the field will see it as permission to take risks, share their processes, and embrace iteration as a core museum practice. That spirit of experimentation is what will keep our institutions alive for the next generation.”
This summer, Roto announced that it has been selected as an exhibit fabrication partner for an exhibition space at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. This expansion will provide a permanent home for the space shuttle Endeavour and honour the past, present, and future of aerospace innovation.
