Exhibition design and fit out

Scottish Historic Buildings Trust is seeking designers to oversee the interpretation design (including audio-visual elements), fabrication and fit-out of a pilot exhibition to take place in a series of former offices and meeting rooms in the old Leith Custom House in Edinburgh, marking the 900th anniversary of the first written reference to Leith in 1128.

The exhibition will engage the public as plans develop for the full restoration of Custom House, and its full transformation into a museum celebrating the historic port of Leith; this future museum is envisaged as utilising a collection of digital media to tell Leith’s story, rather than a large collection of physical objects. The pilot exhibition will serve as a bridge to help people connect with this concept and see its potential as a means of infinite storytelling.

Opening in spring 2027 and running until the end of 2028, the exhibition will highlight a wide range of stories spanning the centuries, in an accessible, light-touch way. It will have very few historic objects, and instead use historic images, scans, oral histories, film, and music to highlight Leith's history; it will utiise traditional interpretation (graphics, set dressing, etc.) but crucially, make use of digital interpretation to show the potential of a full museum which will ultimately lead with a digital rather than a physical collection, creating an immersive, innovative experience.

We are seeking a design team excited by the potential of this project, and who can turn the limitations (time, spaces, etc.) into creative solutions.