The Experiential Design Index

Top 10 Exhibit Design Firms: Northeast US

Ranked by recency-weighted eligible project count, 2021–2026, firms headquartered in the Northeast US (US Census Bureau regions; Canada listed separately). The 10 highest-scoring firms hold a numbered rank; 17 more firms with eligible activity are listed below the table.

Score = 1.0 per eligible project completed this year or last, 0.75 for 2–3 years ago, 0.5 for 4–5 years ago, +0.1 per independently-sourced project (capped at +0.5/firm). Eligible: status: completed projects with year_completed in the trailing 5 years. Ties broken by most recent status_verified date. See About for the full methodology.

Counts reflect the work this index has recorded, not a census of any firm's total output — coverage depth varies by firm — and a position here implies no judgment of design quality.

RankScore FirmHQEligible projects
127.2 Ralph Appelbaum Associates New York, NY Carolina Museum of the Marine (2026), Belgrade 360 Deck (Deck 41) (2026), MUNET — Museography (2026), MoMI LAB (2026), Obama Presidential Center Museum (2026), Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy (2026), Antonín Dvořák's Birthhouse Museum Core Exhibits (2025), Freedom Rides Museum — 2025 Refresh (2025), In This Place (2025), National WWI Museum and Memorial Technology Refresh and Encounters (2025), PETRI Berlin — Archaeology Lab (2025), Shenzhen Bay Cultural Plaza — Gallery Spaces (2025), The Harris — Your Place (2025), Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum (2024), MONEY! and Economy Lab (2024), John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture & History (2024), Lost Shtetl Museum (2024), National WWI Museum and Memorial Media Refresh (2024), The People's House - A White House Experience (2024), Core Exhibit Renovation (2024), Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation (2023), International African American Museum (2023), Midleton Distillery Experience (2023), The Punk Rock Museum (2023), Evolution and Ocean Halls (2023), Jewel House (Crown Jewels exhibition) (2023), Lift 109 (2022), The Intelligence Factory (2022), The World of Stonehenge (2022), Jackie Robinson Museum Core Exhibits (2022), Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals (2021), OKLA HOMMA Immersive Media (Origins Theater, Uprooted, Exit Experience, The Xchange) (2021), Ethnological Museum & Museum of Asian Art (2021), Second World War Galleries (2021)
214.0 Local Projects New York, NY First Bank of the United States Museum (2026), Camouflage: Designed to Deceive (2026), Expanding Freedom (2026), Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Exhibition Experience (2026), Waterway of Change: Complex Legacies of the Erie Canal (2025), Freedom Tower Restoration and Visitor Experience (2025), Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (2024), Orientation & Children's Galleries (2024), Do Good Plaza (2024), Dassai Blue Sake Brewery (2023), Big Button Sculpture (2023), The Inaugural Experience (2023), Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark (2023), Scent Discovery (2023), EY-Nottingham Spirk Innovation Hub (2021), Faith and Liberty Discovery Center (2021), Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center (2021)
312.8 Isometric Studio Brooklyn, NY Joan Semmel: In the Flesh (2025), Robert Rauschenberg's New York: Pictures from the Real World (2025), Trenton Doyle Hancock: Deep in the Heart of Uncanny Valley (Draw Them In, Paint Them Out) (2024), Lewis Latimer House Museum Permanent Exhibition (2024), Ethiopia at the Crossroads (2024), A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes (2023), Action Speaks Summit (2023), Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House and Museum Permanent Exhibition (2023), New York, Now: Home (2023), Death Is Not the End (2023), Queer Justice: 50 Years of Lambda Legal and LGBTQ+ Rights (2023), City of Faith: Religion, Activism, and Urban Space (2022), Ethel Reed: I Am My Own Property (2022), The Utopian Avant-Garde (2022), Through a Glass Darkly: Alchemy and the Ripley Scrolls 1400-1700 (2022), AIANY Design Awards Exhibition (2021), Piranesi on the Page (2021), re: collections, Six Decades at the Rose Art Museum (2021)
411.8 Gallagher & Associates New York, NY Jean & Ric Edelman Fossil Park & Museum of Rowan University (2025), National Medal of Honor Museum (2025), Navy SEAL Museum San Diego (2025), Cleveland Museum of Natural History Transformation (2024), Jackson Hole History Museum (2024), World Heritage Center Exhibition (2024), Daniels Fund JA Dream Accelerator (2023), The National WWII Museum — Road to Victory Master Plan (2023), St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum (2022), Toyota Mississippi Experience Center (2022), ANU — Museum of the Jewish People Renewal (2021), Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum Transformation (2021), Hong Kong Pop 60+ (2021), Corinthian Hall Renovation (2021), Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (2021), National Museum of African American Music (2021), Pikes Peak Summit Visitor Center (2021)
510.7 Proun Design Somerville, MA Kid Zone (2026), Resistance & Resilience: Slavery and Freedom in Marblehead (2026), Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation Exhibits (2026), From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid's Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945-1969 (2024), Ghosted Structures (2024), MIT McNair Tribute (2024), Novocure Corporate Headquarters Exhibits (2024), The South Sea Bubble, 1720: Narratives of the First International Crash (2023), The Founders Room (2022), Indigenous Peoples Gallery (2022), Not an Ostrich: & Other Images from America's Library (2022), Color Through a Child's Eyes (2021), Josiah Henson Museum and Park Exhibits (2021), Neilson Library: An Evolution (2021), More Than a Job: New Bedford's Work and Community (2021)
69.5 CambridgeSeven Cambridge, MA Build a Better World: The Future Begins with You (2026), Everglades Theater (2026), Mote Science Education Aquarium (2025), Boston Bruins Heritage Hall at TD Garden (2024), Virginia Aquarium South Building and Vet Center (2024), WOW! Interactive Projection Wall (2023), Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium (2023), Randall Lewis Second Story and Beyond (2023), U.S. Marshals Museum (2023), Broad Discovery Center (2022), The Long Game (2022), Sloan Museum of Discovery Expansion and Renovation (2022)
78.8 C&G Partners New York, NY Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music (2026), People. Building. Democracy. (2026), Path of Liberty: Freedom Plaza (2025), The American Story (2025), Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor Center (2024), New Jersey Hall of Fame Entertainment and Learning Center (2024), Uprooted (2023), Grundfos: Water Justice (2022), Caspary Prize Wall and Donor Recognition (2021), Pearl Meister Greengard Prize Exhibit (2021), Native New York (2021)
88.5 The Urban Conga Brooklyn, NY A Cappella (2026), Common Corner (2025), The Hive (2024), Interwoven (2024), Sprout (2024), Molecules (2024), pARC (2022), Portal and Coral (2022), Ribbon (2022), Together (2022), TIDAL (2022), Ripple (2021)
97.8 Studio Joseph New York, NY Princeton University Art Museum (2025), Shakespeare Exhibition Hall (2024), Cosmograph (2024), Visible Vault (2024), NHM Commons (2024), Sculpting History: Art, Power, and the "Lost Cause" American Myth (2024), Hector Guimard: How Paris Got its Curves (2022), MIT Museum (2022), Russel & Mary Wright Design Gallery (2021), Up From the People: Protest and Change in D.C. (2021), Welcome Galleries (2021)
105.5 Thinc Design New York, NY Dance to Belong: A History of Dance at 92NY (2024), Ocean Pavilion — Aquarium Exhibition Design (2024), Wonder of Water (Rotunda) (2024), Art in the Service of Faith (Bicentennial Exhibition) (2023), Sylvia H. Rambo Exhibit (2023), Skydeck Chicago Renovation (2022), Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes from Stage & Screen (2021), Terra — The Sustainability Pavilion (2021)

Also active in this category

Firms with eligible activity in the window that fall outside the ranked table — fewer than 2 eligible projects, or a score below the top 10. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

FirmHQEligible projects
Amaze Design Boston, MA Boone Pickens Legacy Experience (2025), Philipse Manor Hall: Our Whole History (2022), #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit (2022), Dark Testament: A Century of Black Writers on Justice (2021), April 19, 1775 Gallery and Website (2021), Celebrated Transcendentalist Authors (2021), Davis Bayou Visitor Center Exhibits (2021), Sue S. Bancroft Women's Leadership Hall (2021)
CLR Design Philadelphia, PA Forest Trailhead (2026), Primate Forest (2021)
Crafted Action Philadelphia, PA Golden Anniversary Campus Transformation (2026), Franklin's Spark (2026), Great Futures Gallery (2024)
ESI Design New York, NY Experience the Times of Bill Cunningham (2021)
Evidence Design Brooklyn, NY Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum (2023), Life! Beginnings (2021)
Main Street Design Waltham, MA Dennis Washington Homeland Gallery (2025), Dauphin Island Sea Lab Revitalization (2023)
MASS Design Group Boston, MA Design and Healing: Creative Responses to Epidemics (2021), Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group (2021)
Matter Practice Brooklyn, NY Weeksville Transforming Community: In Pursuit of Freedom (2022)
Metcalfe Architecture & Design Philadelphia, PA You – The Inside Story (2021)
Pentagram New York, NY Giorgia Lupi — Data Humanism (2026), Live from New York: The Lorne Michaels Collection (2025), Reset: Towards a New Commons (2022), Art and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy (2022), Clive Davis Gallery (2022), Mindworks: The Science of Thinking (2021)
Peter Hyde Design Brooklyn, NY Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Gallery Expansion (2024), Spying Launched a Nation (2024), Pinehurst Heritage Hallway (2024), Children's Museum at Saratoga Relocation (2022), One Rotary Center Interpretive and Exhibit Spaces (2022), Sloan Museum of Discovery Expansion and Renovation (2022), Centier Bank Museum (2021)
Pure+Applied New York, NY Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History (2025), The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History (2024), NYPL Visitor Center (2023), The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures (2021)
Rockwell Group New York, NY Bristol Myers Squibb Kinetic Chandelier (2024), Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab (2024), Museo Casa Kahlo (2023), Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) (2023), Illuminarium Las Vegas (2022), The Museum of Broadway (2022), WILD: A Safari Experience (2021), FUTURES (2021)
Stephen Saitas Designs New York, NY Renovation and Enhancement Project (2025), The Creation and the Expulsion from Paradise Display (2022), Silver Vault Gallery (2022), Martin Building Renovation and Gallery Reinstallation (2021), Frick Madison (2021), Titian: Women, Myth & Power (2021)
TAIT Lititz, PA WildWoods: AGLOW (2022)
Tessellate New York, NY Bering Land Bridge Heritage Center (2025), Congressman Alan Lowenthal Global Trade & Education Center (2024), We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC (2023)
Wondercabinet Interpretive Design, Inc. Lexington, MA Beaufort Visitor Information Center Exhibits (2021), My Big Backyard (2021)