Exhibition N⁰¹: Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM)
America to Zanzibar Exhibit | 3,500 GSF
New York, New York
Status: COMPLETE
Recognitions: 2016 NEH Awards, 2017 Doris Duke Award, 2017 NEA Awards

Project Description
America to Zanzibar
Sanctuary as Cultural Exchange and Spatial Narrative

America to Zanzibar constructs a collective sanctuary through cultural exchange, an immersive spatial system where global narratives, everyday life, and shared human experience are encountered through participation and play. Developed for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the 3,500-square-foot exhibition repositions the museum as a field of interaction rather than a container of objects. Designed for children ages 2–10 and their caregivers, the project enables visitors to “travel the world in a single visit,” engaging cultures across more than fifty countries spanning Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North America. Rather than presenting culture as static representation, the exhibition operates as a spatial narrative system—where architecture, objects, and interaction construct a continuous experience of movement, exchange, and discovery.

Exhibition as Spatial Field
The environment is organized as a network of immersive zones, each structured around forms of cultural production—trade, architecture, music, language, and domestic life. These zones are not isolated exhibits, but interconnected spatial conditions that allow visitors to navigate, interpret, and reconstruct cultural relationships.
Key environments include:

  • Global Marketplace
    A participatory system of exchange where children engage with materials such as textiles, spices, and ceramics, reconstructing traditions of trade and interaction

  • Trade Routes Installation
    A large-scale dhow and camel environment evoking historic networks across the Indian Ocean, connecting East Africa to South Asia

  • Architecture and Design Zone
    Interactive explorations of geometric systems, material practices, and architectural traditions across regions

  • American Home
    A narrative environment composed of photographs, objects, and personal stories, situating contemporary identity within migration and shared history

  • Music and Language Interactives
    Distributed stations where sound, speech, and rhythm become tools for cultural engagement

Cultural Archive in Motion
The exhibition operates as a dynamic cultural archive, where knowledge is not fixed but continuously reinterpreted through use. Visitors do not passively receive information—they actively construct meaning through interaction, play, and participation. By emphasizing lived experience, material culture, and creative production, the project reveals how cultures are shaped through movement, exchange, and adaptation, rather than isolation.

Collaborative Development

Developed over five years with an international network of scholars, artists, educators, and community advisors, the project reflects a collective authorship model. This process ensures cultural specificity while enabling accessibility for young audiences. Supported by major cultural institutions, the exhibition demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration can produce environments that are both rigorous and inclusive.

Impact

America to Zanzibar represents one of the first museum exhibitions designed specifically for children to explore various cultures on a global scale. By combining scholarship, storytelling, and interactive design, the project demonstrates how museums can create inclusive educational experiences that inspire curiosity and cross-cultural understanding. The exhibition’s success, reflected in strong attendance, national media coverage, and a multi-city touring program, underscores the public’s appetite for thoughtful cultural programming that celebrates diversity and fosters dialogue.

Position Within MIIM’s Work
America to Zanzibar extends MIIM DESIGNS’ investigation into architecture as a collective sanctuary through spatial storytelling. Here, sanctuary is constructed not through enclosure, but through connection—a framework where diverse cultures are encountered, shared, and reinterpreted through collective experience. This project extends MIIM DESIGNS’ investigation into architecture as a collective sanctuary through cultural narrative and spatial storytelling

Press:
NEW YORK TIMES: Janet Moressey, ‘A Children’s Museum Surprise Blockbuster: A Show on Islam’
ASSOCIATION OF FRENCH PRESS: New York Museum Lets Children
HUFFINGTON POST: America to Zanzibar Exhibit Showcases Diversity
VOICE OF AMERICA: NYC Children’s Museum Celebrates Diversity
NBC NEWS: America to Zanzibar Exhibition Brings Culture to NYC
BROOKING INSTITUTE: Made in America: CMOM Feeds Children’s Minds and Hearts

Recognitions:
National Endowment for the Humanities
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Endowment for the Arts

Project Team:
Architectural Design: MIIM Designs
Exhibition Design: Roto + CMOM Staff
Collaborators:
Interactive Design: Collab: Fabrication Lab + Innovation Studio
Graphic Design: Tarek Atrissi + Afsoon Talai
Academic Lead Consultants: Hussain Rashid, PhD