Powerhouse Museum

Project Overview

This project began as a personal passion but quickly grew into a multidisciplinary engineering challenge. I coordinated with the head curator at the Powerhouse Museum, who arranged for the Enigma machine to be removed from public display so I could study its internal geometry, mechanisms and historical mounting hardware firsthand. At the same time, I conducted academic research, drawing on input from foreign institutions, including contacts at the University of Würzburg in Germany, to ensure historical accuracy in both form and function.

Balancing museum preservation requirements, legacy hardware tolerances and modern fabrication expectations pushed me to design with respect, restraint and precision. Every bracket, fastener and offset had to be structurally reliable, visually unobtrusive and historically faithful.

Services Provided

• Direct coordination with Powerhouse Museum head curator
• Hands-on study of Enigma machine internal geometry and mechanisms
• Historical research with international academic institutions (University of Würzburg, Germany)
• Precision mounting hardware design balancing historical accuracy and modern fabrication
• Museum preservation requirement analysis and compliance
• Legacy hardware tolerance documentation and integration
• Structural reliability engineering for display mounting

Key Deliverables

• Historically accurate mounting system design for Enigma machine display
• Complete engineering documentation balancing preservation and fabrication requirements
• Detailed bracket and fastener specifications meeting museum standards
• Structural analysis ensuring reliable, unobtrusive mounting solution
• Research documentation supporting historical accuracy decisions

Growth Takeaway

I learned to engineer inside strict historical constraints while communicating with experts across cultures and disciplines. This experience sharpened my ability to balance accuracy, aesthetics, and practicality — and taught me to advocate for design decisions with evidence rather than assumptions.