Experience design-build firm Roto has been named among Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators for 2026, with its Prototype: The Experimental Museum helping secure its place on the list.
The 30,000 sq ft public museum in Columbus, Ohio provides Roto with a permanent environment in which to develop and test new concepts, technologies and experiences with real audiences. More than 50 Roto employees were involved in creating the 25 installations with which Prototype opened in 2025.
The facility expands an approach Roto has used for almost a decade, bringing more than 1,000 students through its Ohio headquarters each year to test new exhibit concepts and provide feedback.
Insights from that process have informed Roto’s work for clients including the Smithsonian, California Science Center, Walt Disney Imagineering and Dollywood, as well as the recently opened Times Travel immersive attraction at One Times Square in New York.
“We wanted employees to have real room to build and test their own ideas, not leave them stuck in a slide deck,” said Joseph Wisne, founding partner and chief creative officer at Roto. “It’s a win-win: employees get to experiment in real time, and what we learn can inform and strengthen the exhibits and experiences we create with our clients.”
Roto was recognised in the Midsize Companies category of Fast Company’s 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators programme.
