With type that moves and dances, Resn designs the Sculpting Harmony exhibition to dramatic effect

Landing on the website of Sculpting Harmony – a digital exhibition that takes viewers inside the making of Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles – is both a visual and sonic treat. A bold, vivid typeface spells out the name of the exhibition, which dances to the crescendoing music of the LA Philharmonic. The exhibition by Getty, which marks the 20th anniversary of the concert hall, was designed by the New Zealand-based digital experience agency Resn to an arresting result. The exhibition takes a deep dive into the layered history of the concert hall. Through a vast strove of Getty’s archival material, aerial photography, interactive 3D renderings, dramatic soundtracks by LA Phil, and narration by Gehry himself, Sculpting Harmony tells the story of how the hall was imagined and brought to life. “Our role in this project was to take the already curated collection by Getty and distil it into a coherent and engaging story for the exhibition,” says Design Director Bruno Arizio. The narrative flow of the exhibition mirrors the chronological way the building was designed, from the inside out. Audiences are first drawn into the interiors of the concert hall, and then led to the exteriors, which were built around it. To root the typographic treatment in the story of the concert hall, the team at Resn looked back at the early ’90s, when Gehry began working on the project. “The typography and the colours are all reminiscent of that era,” Arizio tells us. “Our mood boards were filled with references from Alan Kitching, Paula Scher to Neville Brody; works that spanned through that decade.” While the team was influenced by that style, they were not looking to replicate it. “We didn’t want the project to feel like a time machine; instead, we wanted to create something new, vibrant and full of character,” he adds.