SOLO GALLERY

CLIENT : THE ROALD DAHL MUSEUM AND STORY CENTRE

Our brief for this fantabulous turnkey project was to deliver an object-rich biographical gallery with a strong narrative, with lots for visitors to see and do. As if that were not challenge enough, this needed to include a replica of Roald Dahl's world-famous writing hut, fit in seamlessly to the multi-award-winning Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, and be delivered from scratch in just over nine months.

The hut became the centre of the whole museum. Picking up where the biographical 'Boy' gallery leaves off, we housed a touchscreen exploring Dahl's letters home from Africa in a stack of luggage packed with simple lift flap type activities. His formative experiences as a fighter pilot are emotively represented with AV and object displays around a dramatic, crashed Gladiator aeroplane and a height chart based on his famous characters and own considerable height. A packed period as a cultural attache, spy (allegedly!), lover, husband and father - and budding writer - is represented in a rich set of discovery drawers and picture frames designed to surprise visitors with biographical details, story links and objects. Post-hut, the gallery bursts with quirky links to his stories, loosely answering the common question he came to hate - 'Where do your ideas come from?'. Exhibits, including a whiz-bang ‘Sparkometer’, hit the spot - if visitors’ reactions are anything to go by that is!

Adult fans looking for in-depth detail find a 'Roald Dial' database and series of 'Bits of Biography' - short original pieces, specially written for Solo by Roald Dahl's biographer Donald Sturrock. Thanks Donald!