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Project Highlight: Heritage Hall

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About Heritage Hall

Heritage Hall is a $40 million, 40,000-square-foot visitor center and event space at the State Capitol Building, a National Historic Landmark in Lansing, Michigan. The expansion is entirely underground and increased the Capitol's footprint by 25% without compromising its historic integrity. It houses hundreds of artifacts and welcomes 100K+ annual visitors. 

Morley's contribution to the project included:

  • Custom fabrication

  • Display fabrication

  • Installation

  • Graphic production

Expansion Project Overview

A long pedestrian ramp guides visitors along a series of floor-to-ceiling exhibits that leverage both new graphics and historical artifacts previously housed in storage at the Capitol Building itself. 

Morley craftsmen engineered, fabricated and installed a string of custom display cases along the ramp. Between the cases are giant fabric graphics telling the story of the Capitol Building, which we also printed and installed. The project included over 200 linear feet of fabric graphics.  

To highlight exhibited items, we constructed custom-built artifact risers for the displays.

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Project Challenges

There were a few challenges that made this fabrication and installation unique.

Access. With no large access to the space, Morley associates had to engineer and fabricate the components so that they would fit through very narrow doorways and openings. Installers also had to negotiate an elevator to access the ramps and orientation rooms.

Angled Installation. Since the custom cases were to be situated on a ramp, the bases had to be angled and secured so that they would not slide down the ramp over time. Many of the large fabric graphics also required precise angles during printing and installation.

Asymmetrical Cases. The tops of the cases were asymmetrical and required exact engineering and fabrication to achieve the desired aesthetic.

 

 

See the Finished Product