Jackie Robinson Museum

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

The Jackie Robinson Museum chronicles the full arc of this iconic American’s short yet prolific life in an engaging, modern context.

Location

New York, New York

Client

Jackie Robinson Foundation

Expertise

Culture & Museums [FPO] Museums & Culture Brand Design [FPO] Foundations [FPO] Associations & Organizations Digital Experience Design

Opportunity

Jackie Robinson’s name is synonymous with baseball history, but the Foundation needed a museum that could reveal the man, activist, and changemaker beyond the uniform.

Modern museums are more than places to look at art. They are cultural touchpoints that foster curiosity, introduce new understandings of a topic or person, and encourage different points of view. Most people knew Jackie Robinson as a baseball player who was the first Black athlete to play in Major League Baseball. But Robinson was also a civil rights activist, a business leader, a broadcaster, and a military veteran. The Jackie Robinson Museum became an opportunity to offer visitors a fresh and engaging perspective.

Why This Matters

01
Tell a Holistic Story
The Foundation needed visitors to encounter Robinson as more than a baseball icon, revealing his civil rights leadership, military service, entrepreneurship, broadcasting, family life, and enduring cultural influence.
02
Reach Every Generation
The museum had to engage schoolchildren, lifelong fans, and visitors with little baseball knowledge, giving each audience multiple ways to enter, explore, connect, and respond personally.
03
Turn Legacy Into Action
Rachel Robinson and the Foundation envisioned a living legacy, using Jackie’s experiences to inspire dialogue, personal responsibility, and continued action against racism and prejudice today.

FPO Quote

Solution

An immersive, media-rich exhibition framework turns Robinson’s life into a layered journey, moving visitors between personal history, athletic achievement, and civic action.

Gensler organized the experience around a main gallery that situates Robinson’s life within 20th-century American history and a sports gallery devoted to his athletic legacy. Artifacts, photographs, interpretive text, and digital touchpoints offer different paths into the story. Immersive moments deepen that framework: “Crossing the Color Line” follows Jackie and Rachel Robinson’s 1946 journey through the Jim Crow South; “Game Day” recreates Ebbets Field through a scaled interactive model; and “Living Legacy” connects Robinson’s influence to leaders today.

From brief to build: recreating Ebbets Field required the team to merge a physical model, historic media, projection mapping, software, and sound.

For “Game Day,” a Digital Experience designed by Gensler displays interactive content across a 1:64 model of Ebbets Field, a projection-mapped playing surface, an LED wall, and reader-rail displays. We worked closely with our consultant, Ideum, who designed and installed the model and AV elements, including nearly 30,000 3D-printed fans, while the broader team synchronized historic film, audio, statistics, and period details. The result reconstructs not just a baseball game, but the atmosphere of 1940s Brooklyn and the wider events shaping Robinson’s life.

Impact

The museum’s layered design makes Robinson’s legacy tangible, creating an environment where history, media, artifacts, and architecture work together to deepen understanding.

Immersive exhibits, intimate storytelling moments, and flexible learning spaces turn a historic archive into an active, emotionally resonant visitor experience.

What Changed Because of This

01
A Fuller Legacy
Robinson’s public story expands beyond baseball, presenting his roles as activist, veteran, entrepreneur, broadcaster, family man, and enduring figure in American civic life.
02
History Made Personal
Immersive media and rare artifacts bring visitors closer to Robinson’s choices, risks, and lived experiences, making major moments in American history feel immediate.
03
Living Mission
By exploring Robinson’s experiences beyond the baseball diamond, the museum aims to inspire visitors to become active agents of change, combating racism and prejudice through their own efforts.

Recognition

01

Interior Design

Received the 2023 Best of Year Award Honoree, Domestic Museum/Art Gallery.

02

Fast Company

Featured the newly opened Jackie Robinson Museum, which focuses on citizenship and humanity at large. The Gensler-designed museum celebrates the athlete’s legacy in a way that “calls people to action.”

03

NBC Nightly News

Announced the opening of the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York. Designed by Gensler, the museum focuses on the athlete’s accomplishments in sports and beyond the ballfield.

Team

Project Leadership

Amanda Zaitchik

Amanda is a Studio Director leading multidisciplinary teams creating brand experiences at the intersection of digital technology and physical space. Her research-driven approach connects strategy, storytelling, and spatial design to shape immersive environments across industries.

Beth Novitsky

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FAQ

01

What is the Jackie Robinson Museum?

The museum tells the full story of Jackie Robinson’s life, spanning his athletic achievements, civil rights leadership, military service, business career, and enduring cultural influence.

02

What interactive experiences are inside the Jackie Robinson Museum?

Signature experiences include “Crossing the Color Line,” the interactive Ebbets Field “Game Day” exhibit, and a multimedia installation exploring Robinson’s continuing influence on contemporary leaders.

03

How large is the Jackie Robinson Museum and what spaces does it include?

The museum is a 20,000-square-foot facility with an 8,350-square-foot permanent exhibition space and a 3,500-square-foot changing gallery and classroom space.

04

Who designed the Jackie Robinson Museum?

Gensler served as design architect and brought together architecture, interiors, brand, exhibit, and digital experience expertise. Ralph Appelbaum Associates also collaborated on exhibition design during the museum’s development.

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Related Expertise

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The Jackie Robinson Museum chronicles the full arc of this iconic American’s short yet prolific life in an engaging, modern context.

Jackie Robinson’s name is synonymous with baseball history, but the Foundation needed a museum that could reveal the man, activist, and changemaker beyond the uniform.

Why This Matters

An immersive, media-rich exhibition framework turns Robinson’s life into a layered journey, moving visitors between personal history, athletic achievement, and civic action.

From brief to build: recreating Ebbets Field required the team to merge a physical model, historic media, projection mapping, software, and sound.

The museum’s layered design makes Robinson’s legacy tangible, creating an environment where history, media, artifacts, and architecture work together to deepen understanding.

What Changed Because of This