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Pure+Applied

Also known as: Pure and Applied Studio, P+A

Active

Completed The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History at NYPL (2024) and Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History at the Heckscher Museum of Art (opened September 2025); firm portfolio site actively listing projects as of this check. (verified 2026-07-18)

Pure+Applied is a New York City multidisciplinary design studio, founded by Urshula Barbour and Paul Carlos, working in exhibition design, environmental graphics, wayfinding, and publication design for museums, libraries, and cultural and civic institutions.

HeadquartersNew York, NY
Founded2005
RolesExhibit Design, Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding, Interpretive Planning
Websitehttps://pureandappliedstudio.com

Projects (30)

ProjectVenueRoleYear
Emma Stebbins: Carving Out History Heckscher Museum of Art Exhibit Design 2025
The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2024
NYPL Visitor Center New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2023
Weeksville Transforming Community: In Pursuit of Freedom Weeksville Heritage Center Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2022
The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2021
Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson Building) Exhibit Design 2019
Waterfront Brooklyn Historical Society DUMBO (Empire Stores) Exhibit Design 2018
Tablescapes: Designs for Dining Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Exhibit Design 2018
The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2018
Baseball Americana Library of Congress (Thomas Jefferson Building) Exhibit Design 2018
Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Exhibit Design 2018
You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the 60s New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2018
My Name Is... The Lost Children of Kloster Indersdorf Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Exhibit Design 2017
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York Museum of the City of New York Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2016
Folk City: New York and the Folk Music Revival Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2015
Brooklyn Abolitionists / In Pursuit of Freedom Center for Brooklyn History Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2014
Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism Contemporary Jewish Museum Exhibit Design 2014
Chasing Dreams: Baseball & Becoming American Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History Exhibit Design 2014
Gilded New York Museum of the City of New York Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2013
The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2013
Keep Calm and Carry On: World War II and the British Home Front, 1938-1951 Norton Museum of Art Exhibit Design 2012
Lunch Hour NYC New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Exhibit Design 2012
Museum Redesign South Street Seaport Museum Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2012
Cecil Beaton: The New York Years Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2011
Cars, Culture, and the City Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2010
Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture, 1925-1940 Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2008
Robert Moses and the Modern City: Remaking the Metropolis Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2007
The High Style of Dorothy Draper Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2006
Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel H. Gottscho Museum of the City of New York Exhibit Design 2005
Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete National Building Museum Environmental Graphics & Wayfinding 2004

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