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Interactive Exhibit Design
1. Title: Miners Walk: all the faces of coal
Location type: outdoor, city hall front grounds
Capacity: 300+ visitors per hour
Size: 11,250 square feet, budget $375,000
Exhbiit type: outdoor, experiential public installation
Miners Walk: all the faces of coal is an outdoor, experiential exhibit that celebrates coal miners, past, present and future. In addition the story of the importance of coal in the region is told in colourful, themed banners and on graphically elegant but extremely durable signs. More than art in the park, the exhibit is engaging, informative and interactive.
The focal point is a large sculpture of a miner's face. Created by internationally known artist Jeff de Boer, the sculpture is composed of what are at first glance only abstract shapes. Walking around the site, visitors are delighted to find that at the "sweet spot" the shapes morph into a miner with hardhat and lamp. That moment of discovery creates immediate engagement and visitors are then drawn to walk around the arc of the pathway to discover the incredible story of coal. In addition, at each station the Kids Quest treasure hunt challenges children to find strange and hardy metal creatures lurking among the boulders and perched high on the flagpole.
Lining the walkway are rows of bricks engraved with the names of miners. Some of these are poignant reminders of tragedies underground in the early days; others celebrate happier lives engaged in the search for coal.
2. Title: energyQuest
Location type: entrance atrium in zoo complex
Capacity: 100 visitors per hour (approx.)
Size: 400 square feet
Exhbit type: table top, stand alone
energyQuest is a multi-media exhibit employing hands-on interactives, graphics and digital screen material. Designed to communicate the concept of biomimicry, energyQuest showcases energy efficient adaptations in the natural world and compares them to man-made technologies designed to contribute to a “greener “ world. Table mounted interactives engage visitors in an entertaining, challenging exploration of energy efficiency. Butterflies, blood, birds' wings, and plant leaves are compared to man-made solar electric and thermal systems. The result is an inspiring mix of biology and sustainable energy lessons.
3. Title: The Sweet Secrets of Chocolate
Location type: science museum (Honduras)
Capacity: 60 visitors per hour (approx.)
Size: 600 square feet
Exhbit type: fund raising proposal for themed gallery
Part of a fundraising campaign to rework an existing gallery space, the Sweet Secrets of Chocolate was designed to engage visitors in a hands-on discovery of the history and science of chocolate making in Honduras. The challenge was to create an engaging fundraising document on a subject that previously contained little information that was exciting to children and families. In addition, the vast majority of the visitors would be Spanish Hondurans or Indigenous peoples and, as a result, cultural differences and sensities would have to be taken into account. Lorne Perry DESIGNS created a themed exhibit proposal based on the appearance of a Mayan marketplace in a village circa 1000 B.C. Visitors approaching the market would be challenged to discover how chocolate is made. Clues to answer the question would be found in various inter-actives. This overarching quest would include clues found in ancient chocolate recipes, chocolate bean currency and hands-on interaction with faux utensils that were several thousand years old.
4. Title: Infinity Hexagon
Location type: children’s art museum
Capacity: 20 visitors per hour (approx)
Size: 130 square feet
Exhibit type: art based, immersive/kinesthetic sculpture
Infinity Hexagon was originally designed to take advantage of mirror reflections to create an illusionary art space. Using UV reflective objects illuminated by fluorescent tubes intended for black light installation, Lorne Perry DESIGNS redesigned the space and gave visitors a chance to create their own infinite variety of patterns.
In order to make the environment more approachable, a number of familiar found objects were used in fabrication. These included fluorescent orange traffic pylons, inexpensive sound pipes that can be found at any local toy store, and simple plastic shapes. The pylons can be twirled while their multiple reflections in floor and ceiling create a vast turning pillar that seems to vanish into an infinite space. Never the same twice, Infinity Hexagon is an art piece in which even the participant's own body creates an ever changing and thus intriguing “walk-in” sculpture.
5. Title: Wowtown
Location type: science centre
Capacity: 65 – 100 visitors per hour (approx)
Size: 4000 square feet
Exhibit type: themed children’s experiential gallery
As part of its phased expansion program, the Telus World of Science Calgary completed a full renovation of a challenging multi-tiered space. A critical change, it was to be the first permanent gallery. Responding to an extensive needs assessment survey, Lorne Perry lead a creative group in building WOWtown, a children’s experiential science exhibition.
The research team organized focus groups and face-to-face discussions with staff, teachers, and curriculum specialists to establish the key success attributes of the gallery. The hands-on and highly tactile exhibits were not chosen because they were of any particular type, but rather they had proven to effectively communicate concepts. Exhibits were learner-driven, inquiry based, process-orientated, and self-directed. They could accommodate different learning styles.
Visitors to the gallery would see a familiar but dramatically re-scaled city street and park setting. Twenty-five experience units, including a giant “ride on” ant and life-sized tree, are thematically integrated into a comprehensive learning experience. In a dramatic demonstration of its success, WOWtown increased visitation by 25% in its first year of operation, and later pushed up membership purchases in the target visitor group by 14%.
As you look through the above slide show of images, note that:
- Curiosity Central provided visitors with the opportunity to look further via bins that contained discovery equipment.
- The Big Ant added interest and sculptural quality. It taught biology and was extremely durable, as children could climb on this kinesthetic exhibit.
- The Sun and Cloud, operated by pulley system, taught weather and put to good use an otherwise unused space.
6. Title: Flight
Location type: international airport “drop-in” educational and entertainment gallery
Capacity: 18 - 25 visitors per hour (approx.)
Size: 70 square feet
Exhibit type: hands-on, interactive
Part of a drop-in gallery at an international airport, the exhibit “Flight” allows visitors to participate in both an airplane take off and a hang glider flight. Guests can control their choice of real video sequences. The action can be advanced in time, stopped or reversed using a hand controlled knob located on the counter top. The ability to both control and examine in detail, combined with the large monitor, provides a compelling learning experience for both the user and on-lookers. This is a big advantage for families and small school groups that form the bulk of gallery users.
7. Title: 3 Bears Ball house
Location type: science centre, used in various locations
Capacity: 30 - 40 children per hour
Size: footprint, 120 square feet
Exhibit type: kinesthetic science “playground” apparatus
Three Bears Ball House is a good example of very economical but effective exhibit design. The exhibit engages visitors in both intellectual and kinesthetic learning experiences – real hands-on learning. Children on the upper floor drop plastic balls into pipes, which are then carried downstairs to the lower floor where they fill a ball bin. Below, children load the balls into a soft bag and by coordination with partners above, the bag is winched back up using a rope on a windlass. The cycle is repeated over and over to the delight of the participants. Lessons about simple machines (wheel and axle) and gravity are enthusiastically absorbed in an atmosphere of cooperative play. The carefully designed ladder combined with its safe-fall tiles ensures a stellar safety record.
Science un-plugged at its best, Three Bears is powered by nothing but the earth’s gravity. It has no expensive electronics or moving parts so it is cheap to build and can operate maintenance free for years. In addition, the system is self-resetting, requiring little daily staff input.
8. Title: Magnification Station
Location type: science centre
Capacity: 60 children per hour
Size: footprint, 144 square feet
Exhibit type: table top, 3 learning stations using video microscopes
Designed to introduce the concept of magnification, The Magnification Station has three experience nodes within a single kiosk-like exhibit. Each of the three tables is presented at a different height to accommodate children of different age groups and guests in wheel chairs. Two stations use state-of-the-art video microscopes that allow children and their care givers to explore magnified objects together. Simple to use dials allow children to effectively explore for themselves without frustration, and visual feedback on the TV monitor allows parents to comment and ensure that objects are in focus. The resulting sharing of information is an extremely effective and powerful learning tool among families, friends, and school groups. In addition, since there are three possible sites, children tend to range from one to the other which provides the additional opportunity to compare and contrast their findings.
9. Title: Variable Fulcrum TeeterToter
Location type: science centre
Capacity: 30 children per hour
Size: footprint, 100square feet
Exhibit type: kinesthetic (body-on) science “playground” type apparatus
Sometimes, less is more. This mini exhibit was designed to teach the science of levers. Children in small groups of two or three can engage in very entertaining cooperative play, and literally learn by the seat of their pants. The teeter toter beam can be moved to any position. Children can load up one side with a larger child, or better, two children, while another on the opposite side experiments with beam placement to get the right leverage. The exhibit is very effective in demonstrating mechanical advantage.
10. Title: See Like a Bee: a bee-ootiful view
Location type: science centre
Capacity: 18 -25 children per hour
Size: footprint, 100 square feet
Exhibit type: remote viewing station with joy stick/monitor controls
Bee-ootiful View has two main components: a remote vieiwing video camera mounted in the body of a 3-D bee is suspended a few meters above the gallery floor and a joystick and video monitor are located in a nearby enclosure. Families grouped around the joystick/monitor console can see the gallery from a very different perspective. Discoveries are unexpected and highly engaging as parents and children explore and discuss what they see.
10. Title: The Beat Goes On
Location type: travelling exhibit, various locations including libraries, museums and science centres
Capacity: 80 children per hour
Size: footprint, 1600 square feeet
Exhibit type: table top, stand alone
Human heart health is a major issue. The Beat Goes On takes an in-depth look at how the heart functions or sometimes malfunctions. Instead of providing lists of alarming disease statistics, Beat provides hands-on exhibits that allow visitors to touch, feel and manipulate. The resulting feedback is made more meaningful through highly tactile messages. For example, in Fat Trap visitors attempt to pump liquid (coloured red to simulate blood) through two pipes, one of which is partially blocked similar to conditions found in some veins and arteries. The pumps (normally used in aquariums) are hand-squeezed so the visitors can feel how difficult it is. A direct message which is not soon forgotten, this type of non-verbal learning is effective with a very wide spectrum of age groups.
