ABOUT
Museoplan is a multidisciplinary consulting practice working with museums, private collectors, and architects to design the presentation of cultural collections. We offer a broad range of services intended both for institutions and for design professionals, including gallery planning, exhibition design, needs analysis and programming, as well as architectural design and urban planning for cultural projects.
Museoplan was founded in 2006; its two principals, Stephen Rustow and Caroline Voss, together have over six decades of design experience on internationally recognized museum projects including the Musée du Louvre, MoMA, and the Musée d’Orsay among many others.
Museoplan is located in New York City but its practice is international in scope. We have designed and completed work in the US, Europe and Asia and collaborated on museum projects with many prominent architectural firms including Herzog & de Meuron, Tadao Ando Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, among others. We have also worked directly with institutional and private collectors on the design of exhibitions and gallery installations.
SERVICES
Architecture: We work collaboratively with architectural teams and as independent designers to define, develop and deliver a complete architectural project. The design of museum buildings, from conceptual sketch through full documentation, is the heart of our expertise.
Exhibition Design: We approach each exhibition as an innovative collaboration, putting design in the service of curatorial objectives. For both temporary and permanent installations, we start with the objects or thematic material that is the exhibition’s focus, then design wall surfaces, material supports, cases and lighting with a systematic integration of conservation standards.
Needs Analysis & Programming: We evaluate existing museum facilities and the development potential of expansion sites, including zoning and preliminary massing. We write program briefs that delineate a project’s size, character and organization and remain relevant conceptual frameworks throughout the design process, while leaving sufficient latitude to the design team to adapt and reinterpret their directives.
Design Review: We perform independent project reviews that clarify objectives, refocus the design effort on essentials and evaluate the appropriate use of resources. These may occur at specific milestones or over the life of a project.
Urban Planning: We understand art institutions as key elements in urban development that play a significant role in reinvigorating city centers and anchoring new urban districts. We study each project in its urban and regional context and help institutions develop strategies that take full advantage of their urban potential.
Stephen Rustow principal
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Mr. Rustow’s professional experience over four decades has been largely focused on museums. He played a major design and managerial role on the expansion project of the Musée du Louvre in Paris for the office of I.M.Pei and led the American team on the renovation and enlargement of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has designed many gallery installations for existing museums and has developed plans and programs for new cultural institutions, working independently and in collaborations with some of the most prominent architectural firms in practice today.
Mr. Rustow has also maintained an academic career, as a Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the Cooper Union of New York, a past lecturer and studio critic in Columbia University’s Paris Studio program and a regular guest critic at Harvard and Columbia. He has lectured widely on a variety of topics related to the design of museums and has published in Praxis, JSAH, Casabella and the Révue du Louvre, among other journals.
Mr. Rustow is a graduate of MIT, where he received Masters degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning; he was awarded an Institute Fellowship and was a Graduate Fellow of the National Science Foundation. Prior to his graduate studies, Mr. Rustow completed degrees in Fine Arts and Anthropology at the University of Rochester. He is a registered architect in the state of New York and holds certification from the NCARB. He is also a member of the APA and a past member of the AICP.
Caroline Voss principal
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Prior to joining Museoplan in 2007, Ms. Voss worked as a design architect in several offices on major museum projects in France and the US, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée du Louvre and, as a lighting designer, on the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Cranbrook Institute of Science, among others. She has designed conservation laboratories for the Harvard University Library as well as supervising interior construction on its building and worked on expansion planning for NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. She has also designed a number of commercial and residential interiors.
Ms. Voss completed her doctorate in Architecture at the Ecole d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, where her thesis was received with ‘félicitations du jury’ the highest academic honor. She also received a special diploma in furniture design from the Ecole Boulle in Paris.
From 1986 to 1998, Ms. Voss had a highly successful career as a composer of original music for films, video and theatrical events; her projects include the scores for three half-hour films for the Louvre and original recordings for the Jardins de la Villette. She has composed music for experimental films and dance, as well as for major European and American television networks. Several of her compositions have received critical recognition and awards.