“D5 helps us bring the story into focus. It lets us design more confidently, communicate better, and ultimately deliver more meaningful experiences for the people who visit our spaces.”

—Carl Rhodes, G&A Design Director

Key Takeaways:

• ‍D5 Render transformed G&A’s design communication by enabling real-time, visitor-centric storytelling—helping clients experience concepts as immersive journeys rather than static drawings.
• ‍The integration of D5 with Vectorworks streamlined G&A’s workflow, reducing rendering time from hours to minutes, simplifying iteration, and improving collaboration across design, media, and curatorial teams.
• ‍By adopting D5, G&A gained a strategic business advantage—securing faster stakeholder buy-in, lowering operational costs, and elevating their visual storytelling to match top architectural firms while emphasizing their unique narrative expertise.

Studio Overview

• ‍Location: US
• ‍Team Size: ~80
• ‍Studio Type: Experience Design
• ‍Project Types: museums, exhibitions, science and innovation centers
• ‍Modeling Tools: Vectorworks

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G&A Strategy & Design, a renowned experience design firm, partnered with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) to reimagine the museum experience for the 21st century. Through a real-time visualization pipeline using D5 Render and Vectorworks, G&A crafted immersive, visitor-centric environments while accelerating workflows, aligning stakeholders, and enhancing storytelling. This case study explores how D5 Render enabled G&A to deliver world-class cultural experiences at scale—with clarity, speed, and strategic value.

Project Background: Cleveland Museum of Natural History Transformation

CMNH launched a $150 million renovation to completely reinvent its physical space and educational mission. Abandoning a chronological layout, the museum adopted a unified narrative focused on the interconnectedness of life and the health of the planet. G&A led the exhibition design of key new wings, including the 14,000 sq. ft. Evolving Life Wing and the 15,000 sq. ft. Dynamic Earth Wing.

“The exhibits take a bold approach, forming integrated storylines of planetary and biological processes that make these powerful forces tangible and relevant in contemporary life,” said Joshua Gallagher, Managing Director at G&A.

The mission: put visitors at the center of Earth’s story—through engaging narratives, physical artifacts, and immersive media.

The Challenge: Communicating Complexity in Exhibition Design

1. Narrative Complexity Across Diverse Spaces

The project required seamless storytelling across very different spatial experiences—from bright atriums to dark theaters and sensitive artifact zones. Older workflows couldn’t convey the full visitor journey or mood transitions between zones.

“We’re always figuring out what kind of story we’re telling—and how,” said Carl Rhodes, Design Director. “Through media, physical displays, graphics, or interactivity. And we think about it through the eyes of the guest.”

2. Multi-Stakeholder Alignment

Designs had to resonate with curators, scientists, architects, and funders alike. Traditional floor plans and still images often fell short in aligning vision across these groups.

3. Workflow Bottlenecks and Limited Agility

Before D5, testing a design idea meant exporting from modeling software and re-importing into rendering tools—costing time and discouraging experimentation.

“It used to be that making a rendering for every design option was an extra effort,” Carl noted. “You’d make one change, export the whole file, open it in another program—it was very one-way.”

The Solution: Integrating D5 Render with Vectorworks

Real-Time Sync for Faster Iteration

G&A developed a smooth pipeline using Vectorworks for modeling and D5 Render for real-time visualization. Designers could toggle exhibit layouts, lighting conditions, or camera angles with immediate feedback—speeding up both internal reviews and client presentations.

“Sometimes we do renderings just to validate our own thinking,” said Carl. “Once we see it together, something usually needs to change.”

Not all designers are rendering experts. Training programs and internal showcases helped build confidence with D5 across disciplines. Now, different teams—curatorial, spatial, and media—can work in parallel without breaking the workflow. This streamlines internal reviews and decision-making while eliminating redundant exports.

Scenario Switching and Presentation Agility

With design elements organized on Vectorworks layers, the team could quickly switch between design options in D5 without resetting scenes. This allowed faster exploration of concepts and made live client reviews more dynamic and productive.

Storytelling from a Visitor’s Perspective

D5’s cinematic cameras and cutscenes let G&A simulate the guest journey—emphasizing key transitions and narrative moments. This helped clients connect emotionally to the design and reduced ambiguity early in the process.

“We want clients to see it through the eyes of a visitor… they understand it better and feel more confident in the design.”

Handling Large Models with Ease

To manage complex multi-floor museum layouts, the team used D5’s clip cube and section tools to visualize spatial relationships without overloading the system. Breaking models into zones also improved stability during high-stakes presentations. For multi-floor models, segmenting files and using tools like section cuts ensured stability and smooth performance.

“Being able to slice it up or isolate zones keeps it manageable,” Carl explained.

Also read: D5 Smoothness｜Large Scene Capability and Real-time Interactivity

Lighting and Mood Simulation

The ability to simulate natural lighting helped G&A test mood transitions—such as moving from bright atriums into dark galleries—ensuring both visual impact and artifact safety.

Organized Scene Management

Saved camera angles and lighting presets in D5 gave designers full control during meetings—making it easy to guide attention, compare options, and maintain narrative flow across revisions.

Results & Business Impact

Significant Time Savings

What once took hours—or even overnight—now takes minutes. Designers can produce high-quality visuals in real time, freeing more capacity for creative problem-solving and strategic work rather than technical bottlenecks. This efficiency translates into faster project delivery without compromising quality.

“Back when I started, it would take two hours to render one still. Now I can preview it in real time, and a high-res version takes a minute. Rendering becomes a byproduct, not a bottleneck.”

Fewer review cycles and faster stakeholder approval

Immersive walkthroughs allow clients, museum boards, and donors to understand the design vision immediately. This reduces back-and-forth, prevents costly late-stage changes, and builds trust earlier in the process—critical for projects with multiple stakeholders and tight funding timelines.

Optimized Resource Use

Because visualization is seamlessly integrated into the workflow, G&A doesn’t need a separate, specialized rendering team for every project. This lowers overhead costs while ensuring every designer can contribute to high-quality presentations.

Increased Competitive Advantage

D5’s visual precision allows G&A to meet or exceed the presentation quality of leading architectural firms—while still focusing on storytelling and visitor experience design. For cultural institutions comparing proposals, this level of clarity can be the deciding factor in awarding projects.

Speed and Productivity Gains

Renders that once took hours are now generated in minutes. Designers can prototype, visualize, and refine on the fly—shifting time from production to strategy.

“Back when I started, it would take two hours to render one still,” Carl shared. “Now I can preview it in real time, and a high-res version takes a minute.”

Faster Stakeholder Buy-In

With D5 animations and walkthroughs, stakeholders—from museum boards to donors—could instantly grasp the vision. This shortened review cycles and reduced costly redesigns.

Lower Operational Overhead

Because D5 integrates seamlessly with existing workflows, G&A doesn’t need a separate rendering team. Designers create presentations in the same environment where they design, keeping teams lean and efficient.

Stronger Competitive Position

D5’s visual fidelity allowed G&A to match architectural firms on quality—while also emphasizing their unique edge in narrative design. For museums selecting partners, clarity and storytelling mattered most.

Conclusion

By integrating D5 Render into its pipeline, G&A redefined how experience design is communicated and delivered. The results went beyond faster renders—D5 empowered better decision-making, tighter collaboration, and clearer storytelling for all project stakeholders.

“D5 helps us bring the story into focus,” said Carl Rhodes. “It lets us design more confidently, communicate better, and ultimately deliver more meaningful experiences for the people who visit our spaces.”

In the business of museum and cultural design, that kind of clarity is more than a creative advantage—it’s a competitive one.

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