We’d been lucky enough to do a few projects at The Exchange, the University of Birmingham’s city centre site, but we’d always wanted to do something that told the history of the first city run bank in the UK and the people who worked there. And this year we got to do just that.
The Participation team had been working with retired bank staff and local communities to gather oral histories and experiences of this amazing building and we were asked to design the exhibition set in the original Vaults – a large symmetrical room with hundreds of old safety deposit boxes still in situ.
We worked with the layout of the room, creating banners and designing a hanging system that wouldn’t damage the original fixtures and fittings (all are Listed). We sourced furniture and designed interactives for visitors to enjoy, and created booklets for some of the research collected. We even designed bank-like stamps drawn from the original bank logos and made 3D printed coin holders to securely hold original coins for a brass rubbing-style activity.
