Peter Slavenburg

Co-founder and Director, NorthernLight (Amsterdam)

A creative designer and respected project leader who never loses sight of the initial design goals of a project, Peter Slavenburg is the co-founder and Director of NorthernLight.

Slavenburg has worked on more than 30 exhibition and experience projects, amongst others the Glasgow Science Centre, the Hidrodoe in Belgium, the Rotterdam Historic Museum, the Sound and Vision Experience, the Guang Dong Science Centre, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Science and Technology Museum in Beijing and the Macao Science Centre.

Based in Amsterdam, NorthernLight is a dynamic company that develops, designs, builds and installs exhibitions and experiences for a wide variety of exhibitors. Clients include museums, science centres, brand centres and world expos. Action and interaction are central to the NorthernLight approach, turning visitors from passive observers into active participants. NorthernLight creates exhibitions that tell stories, not merely present objects.

In recent years, NorthernLight has established itself as a world leader in the field of museum and expo design and handling complex projects involving many parties is a particular strength of NorthernLight. The company’s portfolio includes over 70 projects, in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. In-house there is a team of interior designers, exhibit designers, multimedia designers, project managers, fabrication managers, researchers and education experts.

NorthernLight has just opened its Asia Pacific office in Beijing, China and has established strategic partnerships in Canada and Spain. The focus of NorthernLight’s designs is on interaction and experience; to lead visitors into the process of exploration and discovery.

One of the projects that has made a name for NorthernLight in the Asia pacific region is the Science and Technology Museum in Beijing. Of the 35 companies that submitted proposals in 2007, the Amsterdam-based agency for exhibition design NorthernLight was one of five selected for the design of the new Science and Technology Museum in Beijing. This immense museum, which opened September 2009, consists of five exhibitions, the largest of which, measuring 6.400 m2, is entirely interactive and is being designed by NorthernLight.

Prior to founding NorthernLight in 1997, Slavenburg worked as a designer for the NEMO science centre in Amsterdam, where he developed and designed its exhibition gallery on human psychology. He was also a photographer for Doctors Without Borders, traveling to Albania, Kenya, Sudan, Malawi, and Mozambique.

Slavenburg completed his MSc in Design Engineering summa cum laude at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.