Patterned by Nature installed at the North Carolina Museum of
Natural Sciences in Raleigh, North Carolina in collaboration with
Sosolimited and Plebian Design. Image courtesy of Hypersonic.
projects’ constraints: what the site looks like
as well as the site’s dimensions, among other
factors. The brainstorming that goes into each
creation, though, is extremely free-form. It’s a
kind of open-ended tinkering that Washabaugh
compares to music. Just like in composition, in
exhibit development “you have a group of riffs,
and then suddenly the structure of the piece
comes to you.”
But Hypersonic doesn’t work alone. It often
collaborates with other companies, including
Boston’s Small Design Firm and SoSo Limited.
“Partnerships are crucial,” said Washabaugh.
“We want to work with great people.” Doing so
helps “broaden the discussion,” especially regarding data visualization.
Aiding the collaboration process is the studio’s location. Hypersonic is a member of the
Dark Matter Collective, a group of tinkerers,
engineers, and thinkers who all share the same
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studio space. Other members include a theoretical physicist whose day job is teaching at
Barnard College and a big-data engine \