TRIAD Berlin was a German
exhibition design
Exhibit design (or exhibition design) is the process of developing an exhibit—from a concept through to a physical, three-dimensional exhibition. It is a continually evolving field, drawing on innovative, creative, and practical solutions to t ...
firm based in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
with an office in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. The agency is best known for the development of two major sports museums: the
German Football Museum
The German Football Museum (german: Deutsches Fußballmuseum) aka DFB-Museum is the national museum for German football in Dortmund, Germany. It opened on 23 October 2015.
History
After the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the German Football ...
in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...
and the
FIFA World Football Museum
The FIFA Museum is an association football museum operated by FIFA. The museum is located in Zürich, Switzerland, across town from the FIFA headquarters. It opened on 28 February 2016. The project, costing over SFr500 million ($563m), is curre ...
in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich () i ...
.
History

The Berlin agency was founded in 1994 by Lutz Engelke to realize the exhibition ''The Dream of Vision – Age of Televisions'' at
Gasometer Oberhausen
The Gasometer Oberhausen is a former gas holder in Oberhausen, Germany, which has been converted into an exhibition space. It has hosted several large scale exhibitions, including two by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Gasometer is an industrial la ...
in the city of
Oberhausen
Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European ...
. After designing the theme pavilion ''
Urban Planet'' at
Expo 2010
Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the ...
, the company also established an additional permanent office in Shanghai,
China. At the beginning of 2020 the agency filed for
insolvency
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet in ...
. Since then a TRIAD network has been operating with several companies.
Exhibition Design Approach

The agency focusses on spatial communication and sees itself as a ''Think & Do Tank''. Its main goal is to turn complex ideas into tangible experiences. Although the content of the projects varies, the method used for their development is always the same: the creation of stories that can be experienced from abstract ideas. A key component of this process is the development of a narrative that structures the messages and guides the visitor through the exhibition. Most of the times, the
storytelling is enhanced by digital media. TRIAD exhibitions rely heavily on digital interactive exhibits with the intention of bridging the gap between the intellectual learning process and the physical experience. In many cases, TRIAD combines education and entertainment in a multimedia space. The result is the so-called
edutainment
Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...
, whose goal is to educate through entertainment.
TRIAD has applied edutainment concepts to various projects focused on children's education, such as the 2018 exhibition on the
MS Wissenschaft
''MS Wissenschaft'' ("''MS Science''") is an exhibition ship in Germany. It is named after , the German term for any study or science that involves systematic research and teaching. It is a project of and the Federal Ministry of Education and Res ...
about working life of the future. In the same way, the company has used this approach in the
Brandenburg Gate Museum
The Brandenburg Gate Museum was a private museum in Berlin which opened as ''THE GATE Berlin'' on April 27, 2016. It was situated vis-à-vis the Brandenburg Gate in the building Pariser Platz 4a and told 300 years of Berlin history in a multimedia ...
in Berlin.
The company is also tackling other challenges that exhibitions face today, like the creation of barrier-free museums. An example of this is the exhibition ''Wilderness Dreams'' in
Eifel National Park
The Eifel National Park (german: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".
Eifel National Park is par ...
which is part of the
United Nations Decade on Biodiversity
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
.
Notable projects
The agency designs exhibitions, museums, experience centers,
trade fair
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...
s,
expo pavilions, edutainment concepts, brand environments and events. A lot of the company's projects focus on three main areas: sustainability, sports, and culture.
* Exhibition ''The Dream of Vision – Age of Televisions'', Gasometer Oberhausen, 1997
* Pavilion ''Planet m'',
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Germany,
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were exp ...
* Theme pavilion ''Urban Planet'', Shanghai, China, Expo 2010
*
Visitor center
A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors.
Types of visitor center
A visi ...
''Qinhu Wetland National Park'',
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...
, China 2011
* Conference ''Creating Climate Wealth Summit'', Siemens-Villa
Wannsee
Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger '' Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...
, Germany 2012
* Museum ''Porcelain Worlds'', Leuchtenburg,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, Germany 2014
*
German Football Museum
The German Football Museum (german: Deutsches Fußballmuseum) aka DFB-Museum is the national museum for German football in Dortmund, Germany. It opened on 23 October 2015.
History
After the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the German Football ...
,
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...
, Germany 2015
* Showroom
Hanergy
Hanergy Holding Group Ltd. (Hanergy) is a Chinese multinational company headquartered in Beijing. The company is focusing on thin-film solar value chain, including manufacturing and solar parks development. It also owns the Jinanqiao Hydroelectr ...
''Renewable Energy Exhibition Center'',
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, China 2015
*
FIFA World Football Museum
The FIFA Museum is an association football museum operated by FIFA. The museum is located in Zürich, Switzerland, across town from the FIFA headquarters. It opened on 28 February 2016. The project, costing over SFr500 million ($563m), is curre ...
, Zürich, Switzerland 2016
* Brandenburg Gate Museum, Berlin, Germany 2016
* Exhibition ''Wilderness Dreams'', Eifel National Park, Germany 2016
* Visitor center ''360 Degrees – Thuringia Goes Digital'',
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits ...
, Germany 2017
* Event ''100 Years
UFA
Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...
Anniversary Night'', Berlin, Germany 2017
* Exhibition ''ALL IN ALL.
Jacob Böhme
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...
'',
Dresden State Art Collections
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (, ''Dresden State Art Collections'') is a cultural institution in Dresden, Germany, owned by the State of Saxony. It is one of the most renowned and oldest museum institutions in the world, originating from the ...
, Germany 2017
* Conference Astana
Expo 2017
Expo 2017 Astana was an International Exposition which took place from June 10 to September 10, 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The expo's theme was "Future Energy", and aimed to create a global debate between countries, nongovernmental organizatio ...
''Future Energy Forum'', Expo Astana,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...
2017
* Exhibition ''Working life of the future'' on MS Wissenschaft, currently visiting 34 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Literature
* Engelke, Lutz/Osswald, Anja: ''Die Metamedienmaschine. Kommunikation im digitalen Zeitalter.'' In Hildebrandt, Alexandra/Landhäußer, Werner (eds.). ''CSR und Digitalisierung. Der digitale Wandel als Chance und Herausforderung für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft.'' Berlin:
Springer-Verlag
Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing.
Originally founded in 1842 ...
, 2017, p. 961–973. .
* Engelke, Lutz/Osswald, Anja: ''„Weltregal“ or the World on a Shelf.'' In Grau, Oliver et al. (eds.). ''Museum and Archive on the Move. Changing Cultural Institutions in the Digital Era.'' Berlin/Boston:
De Gruyter
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature.
History
The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...
, 2017, p. 277–284. .
* Engelke, Lutz: ''Zur Ökologie von Kreativität, Innovation und Organisation – ein Reisebericht.'' In Roehl, Heiko/Asselmeyer, Herbert (eds.). ''Organisationen klug gestalten. Das Handbuch für Organisationsentwicklung und Change Management.'' Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel, 2017, p. 157–164. .
* Engelke, Lutz: ''Globalization and transformation. What can design accomplish in the 21st century?'' In Eysoldt, Robert/Ruddigkeit, Raban (eds.). ''Berlin Design Digest Berlin. 100 successful projects, products, and processes'' Berlin:
Slanted Publishers, 2017, p. 242–247. .
* Engelke, Lutz: ''Die Dauerausstellung. Eine Reise in die Tiefe des Raums.'' In Neukirchner, Manuel (ed.): ''Mehr als ein Spiel. Das Buch zum Deutschen Fußballmuseum.'' Essen: Klartext, 2015, p. 54–85. .
* Figueres, José Maria: ''Zukunft entscheidet sich in Deutschland. Ein Land auf dem ökologischen Vormarsch.'' In Bachmann, Günther/Engelke, Lutz (eds.). ''future lab germany. innovationen für die welt von morgen.'' Hamburg: Murmann, 2013. p. 189–193. .
* Wong, Liliane: ''Sustainability: Industry Standards and Innovation.'' In Leydecker, Sylvia (ed.): ''Designing Interior Architecture. Concept Typology Material Construction.'' Basel: Birkhäuser, 2013, p. 66–97. .
* Ang, Ien: ''On Display. The State of the World.'' In Winter, Tim: ''Shanghai Expo. An International Forum on the Future of Cities.'' London/New York: Routledge, 2013, p. 101–119. .
* Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung/TRIAD Berlin (eds.): ''Visionen 2050. Dialoge Zukunft „Made in Germany“.'' Texte Nr. 25, Jan. 2011
online* Schaade, Christian/Deutsches Zollmuseum Hamburg (ed.): ''Deutsches Zollmuseum. Ein Ausstellungsrundgang.'' Hamburg: Deutsches Zollmuseum, 2008. .
* Grau, Oliver: ''Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion.'' Cambridge (Mass.)/London: MIT Press, 2003. .
* Kubitz, Peter Paul/Hoenisch, Peter/TRIAD Berlin (eds.): ''Der Traum vom Sehen. Zeitalter der Televisionen.'' Amsterdam/Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, 1997. .
References
External links
official websiteLutz Engelke's talk ‘Beyond Creativity’at
CreativeMornings
CreativeMornings is a free monthly breakfast lecture series designed for creative communities. In 2008, Tina Roth-Eisenberg founded the lecture series in Brooklyn, New York as an ongoing, accessible event for New York’s creative community. Th ...
, April 28, 2017
BBC Sport correspondent Richard Conway takes a tour around the new Fifa museum, February 24, 2016Lutz Engelke's talk ‘Making Global Change Visible’at
HPI School of Design Thinking, September 22, 2012
{{Authority control
Exhibition designers
Museum designers
Communication design
Design companies of Germany
Companies based in Berlin