More construction is coming to Orlando!
©The Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity
The popular tourist destination is changing quite a bit these days. Both Disney and Universal are changing in lots of ways, and now the city is also working on some new additions. A popular design firm, known for its work with theme parks, is leading the charge on this new museum.
Design firm MDSX is working on the development of exhibits for The Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity. According to the Orlando Business Journal, this is a $63 million project that is planning to break ground later in 2026.
©The Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity
MDSX has previously worked on Happily Ever After in Magic Kingdom, Test Track 2.0, Enchantment in Magic Kingdom, and more. MDSX Chief Creative Officer Steve Tatham previously served as the executive creative director for Universal’s Epic Universe. Tatham shared that storytelling is a key component of both theme park design and museums. He shared that they can use physical spaces that are familiar to people to evoke emotions, and that is what they are doing with the museum.
©MDSX
Currently, the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida is at 851 N. Maitland Ave. It opened in 1986 and focuses on educating visitors about the Holocaust as well as connecting it to current issues. The new museum will be roughly 25,000 square feet. Leadership started discussing a new museum back in 2020. Suzanne Grimmer, senior director of museum experiences, shared that this partnership with MDSX developed from the desire to build something different from a traditional museum.
Grimmer said the storytelling MDSX is capable up is the key to this new approach. The museum will focus on 8 Holocaust survivors who live in Florida and their experiences. Grimmer shared, “We’ve had past designs and schematics done for this exhibit, and the reason that we decided to conclude those and go with MDSX is because when we’re going through it, they were neutral. I was failing to find where my connection to the survivor was, and it felt like the room was at the forefront and not the story.”
©Orlando Business Journal
The first “public demonstration” of this exhibit style opened in January at the current museum location. “Our galleries are not neutral, they are storytelling spaces,” Tatham shared. MDSX has worked on other museum spaces in the past, like Planet Play inside the Kennedy Space Center and the Electricity Gallery at The Franklin Institute. Founder and CEO of MDSX, Dan Picard, shared that the company has focused on how to balance sensitive source material with storytelling in these spaces.
$44 million has been raised towards the $63 million projected total needed for the new space. The state is giving $5 million, and the museum will receive more than $10 million in tax funding. The city of Orlando has provided the land and buildings that are currently being leased for the site. Be sure to keep following AllEars for more Orlando news and updates.
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