Image courtesy of Dimensional Innovations

By KERRY SMITH BUCK

MEDORA, N.D. – The 31,000-square-foot presidential galleries, part of the nearly 100,000-square-foot, $450 million Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library campus in Medora, N.D., opened July 4 in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday.

It invites visitors into a deeply immersive journey through the life, legacy, and impact of America’s 26th president.

Medora is located approximately 130 miles west of Bismarck, N.D., the state capital.

Designed as a series of eight experiential chapter galleries connected by a central spine, the exhibits unfold like a living biography. Each chapter explores a defining era of Roosevelt’s story – from his childhood and formative years in the North Dakota Badlands to the battlefields of the Spanish-American War, the Oval Office and his lifelong devotion to the natural world. Through bold storytelling, tactile environments and orchestrated layers of media and technology, the experience invites guests to step directly into the world that shaped Roosevelt and that he went on to change.

Dimensional Innovations, the prime experiential exhibit contractor for the new library, played a pivotal role in bringing to life one of the most ambitious cultural destinations ever built in the American west.

The project also reflects the vision and leadership of several key contributors, including Snøhetta and JLG (architects), Local Projects (exhibit and media designer), JE Dunn (general contractor) and Future of StoryTelling (executive creative directors and storytellers). Media partners RLMG, Cortina and Redglass played essential roles in shaping the digital and cinematic layers of the experience.

“As we set out to honor someone as dynamic and multi-faceted as Theodore Roosevelt, we knew the exhibit experience needed to be equally ambitious,” said Edward F. O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. “Dimensional Innovations’ ability to orchestrate complex fabrication, technology and storytelling elevated this project beyond a traditional museum. The result is a living, breathing embodiment of Roosevelt’s life, one that invites participants to celebrate both the man and the nation he helped define.”

Dimensional Innovations led the management and oversight of the experiential exhibit program, collaborating closely with a wide network of creative and technical partners. The firm worked alongside VLS for lighting integration and Electrosonic, which directed and engineered the audiovisual design and integration throughout the galleries. Scenic fabrication partners included Blue Rhino Studios, Split Rock Studios and B Morrow Productions, whose craftsmanship helped shape the physical environments that anchor the narrative.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library stands as the nation’s first carbon‑neutral presidential library, designed to operate in harmony with the surrounding Badlands ecology and reflect Roosevelt’s trademark love of nature.