Experiences and Museums

10.13.15:

fall 2015 – 3 new projects completed

ALCHEMY studio is pleased to announce the opening of three new projects over the summer and early fall, developed and designed by our team. We want to congratulate the staff of these institutions for their community vision, hard work, and creativity.

The LAB, Children’s Science Center, Reston VA – June 2015


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LAB is the first public experience opened by the Children’s Science Center, which is the first interactive STEM destination in Northern Virginia.

The Lab is composed of four spaces which include the Experiment Bar programmatic space; a tinkering space known as the Tinker Shop; an exhibition space called the Inspiration Hub; and an early learner area called the Discovery Zone. All spaces are designed for changing exhibitry and are completely flexible while still being separately themed.

Unique project factors: The LAB is located in a family-friendly, upscale suburban mall. This context informed both the design standards as well as the operating planning. The LAB has been a great success since its launch over the summer.

 

 Science Basics and Our Bodies, Konya Science Center, Konya Turkey – July 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Konya Science Center marks Turkey’s first truly large-scale interactive informal learning experience. As the first institution completed under the science center initiative being lead by Turkey’s national science research organization, TUBITAK, the new science center is intended to be a model for other municipalities in the country as they develop their own science centers.

Unique project factors: This science center needed to reflect its local community and regional needs, but, as a national model, it also needed to attract other municipalities to draw from its example. These factors impacted the overall design and led to a project with community-based and national outcomes.

 

CREATE!, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, AZ – September 2015

CREATE! was designed to support local and regional communities of makers, designers, artists, and engineers. CREATE! provides safe starting points for new participants while also being a resource for established makers and designers who want to explore new ideas and share their knowledge with others.

Unique project factors: CREATE! is housed in an existing building adjacent to the Arizona Science Center, and though there is considerable overlap, CREATE! has its own identity and draws its own audience. In addition, with the space, the design and planning needed to consider the full novice-to-expert spectrum while also partnering deeply with like-minded community resources.

 

 

 

 

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08.28.14:

Interesting Technologies

This week in the studio, it has been a bit slow with the dog days of summer (honored here with a picture of our office dogs) and the eventual buildup of meetings and conferences immediately after Labor Day.

That said, we have run across two interesting projects: one that reminded us of one of our past projects and another that might suggest some new ways to integrate visitors into interactive exhibits.

The first is the RiF010 Water Sport/Wave Pool planned for Rotterdam. See both the computer rendering and working model below.

 

 

 

 

This reminds us of a project a few years back in Sydney, Australia where we suggested that Darling Harbour should include a place to surf. This was part of some brainstorming for the National Maritime Museum to activate their Darling Harbour front.  Just looking at the apparatus here, we see possibilities to create some intriguing wave tanks, perhaps smaller, for both natural history and science installations. Creating a realistic model of ocean waves… we can think of many uses for that.

 

The second idea we want to share is the evolving reality of real-time monitoring of people’s physical activity. Examples such as the Fitbit abound, but take a look at the new clothing sensor line being created by Athos.

 

 

 

Technology such as this offers the opportunity to create experiences (interactive and individualized) that move exhibits of sport and competition into new realms. Visitors can record their performance over multiple visits, can become actual “artifacts” that are part of the experience, can be, in effect, their own demonstrations. We’re definitely seeing how this type of technology can be integrated into the “stuff’ and experience of museums and other public places.

 

What would you do with these technologies?

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08.06.14:

Light Explorations

So, after a mid-summer blog break, we’re back to our “weekly” inspirations about ideas we’ve come across that make us think about experiences, museums and the like. This week, we’ve encountered two interesting pieces that explore ideas we have mentioned before – reflection and light.

The first is Light Barrier by kimchi and chips a South Korean design studio.

 

 

 

Using principles of reflection, projection, and some carefully crafted light beams along with scanning technology, they create a mesmerizing three-dimensional display. What’s interesting to us is two-fold. First, it shoes how powerful three-dimensional display can be without having the “resolution” that we normally associate with “display” in the museum setting. Certainly, there are aspects of content, text and other display elements that could utilize this same power.

Secondly, as clearly evident in the work, there are many mathematical and natural science phenomena on display in the work as it is. Certainly, this could be a powerful way to engage visitors with this content.

 

The second item we ran across plays directly with some of our other blog posts about reflection. Take a look at “wink” by Masakazu Sherine and Saya Miyazaki from Japan. It’s a walk-in kaleidoscope!

 

 

 

 

A fascinating part of this installation is that all of the panels are attached by zippers, making it almost infinitely changeable to the visitor – a kaleidoscope that changes while you are in it. This piece creates an almost magical space. It would be easy to see the same concept in an art or a children’s museum.

Where could you imagine installing these playful experiences? How would you adapt them to support something you’ve been thinking about or working on?

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06.18.14:

inspiration to start the summer

This week’s inspiration is fun, wonderful and an amazing example of optical illusions. Check out the new video from Ok Go. What a great inspiration to start the summer with.

 

 

 

 

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06.05.14:

out of the box technology

This week at the studio, we’ve been thinking and talking about ways to use technology to foster inquiry. This was sparked in part to a recent article in ed, the magazine for the Society of Experiential Graphics (click here to see the article) written by the studio’s very own Wayne LaBar. In addition if you are interested in exploring the subject further register for the SEGD Exhibition & Experience Design Workshop being held August 21 – 22 in Washington DC. Wayne and others will be speaking at it.

As part of our discussions, we came across an interesting video done by a GoPro video owner – it shows what goes on when you run your dishwasher. Watch below:

 

 

This video got us thinking about how everyday technologies that our visitors adopt or use can be co-opted to suggest and foster inquiry experiences in their lives and at museums. Let’s just take the GoPro camera system, for example. Here, we have a rugged, video data collection system that anyone can use. Imagine creating an experience where visitors are prompted to shoot the mysterious goings-on in neighborhood locales, or shoot video of places they can’t actually see, providing perspectives that one often doesn’t think about. This could be at home or even within a museum.

We believe we should be fostering ideas about how we might take new technologies that people are adopting and twist them into interesting new tools for investigating the world.

This seems like a creative way to think about and innovate toward some new experiences for museums, science centers, children’s museums, and other places.

Now that you’ve seen what’s happening inside a dishwasher, what else do you want to see? How might you use an everyday technology in a new way?

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06.05.14:

tools of engagement

In the latest issue of  ed  the magazine for the Society of Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD), Wayne LaBar founder of ALCHEMY studio discusses the new technologies that are merging to engage people in experiences at museums. Below is a reprint of the article.

In addition if you are interested in exploring the subject further register for the SEGD Exhibition & Experience Design Workshop being held August 21 – 22 in Washington DC. Wayne and others will be speaking at it.

Enjoy!

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05.12.14:

To infinity…

So, this week we have become very interested in the work of Matt Elson who creates Infinity Boxes. Perhaps some you have seen them at Burning Man.

Clearly, as indicated by the video (we’re sure the photographs only hint at the scene inside), the impact of these experiences is pretty special. As we have blogged about before, the exploration of infinity seems to fascinate people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His work got us wondering about how the concept could be used to create similarly magical experiences about other subjects in ways that might be more impactful than a media piece.  Ideas that have come to mind include the inside of a cell, a diorama of a nature scene, perhaps even the subatomic world, another planetary surface… or even a mathematical theorem.

 

His experiences are an example of how some of the most age-old exhibition techniques can be used to great effect – perhaps even more so in the context of our digital world.

 

What does this technique make you think of? Where does your imagination go?

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05.02.14:

3D Modeling

The past 10 working days have been very busy here in the studio. We have some new projects ramping up and several moving creatively forward, but we have had the chance to encounter a couple of very interesting projects that all demonstrate the idea of 3D modeling in new ways.

The first is Lix, the world’s smallest 3D printing pen in the world.

 

 

 

Well, this pen doesn’t exist yet, but it’s currently a Kickstarter project. Certainly, this direction of 3D printing will become increasingly prevalent in the creative fields, and we think it’s easy to see this technology on the museum floor. From art museums to children’s museums, the artistic and creative implications are easy to see. In science museums, while it might be easy to imagine something like this being used in a maker or tinkering space, this idea got us thinking about some new ways it might be used.

How might a 3D pen like this be used to document or record phenomena?

Could it be used instead of a pen for exhibits like pendulum drawing?

This trend of replacing a physical medium with something new is part of the allure of the other project we ran across recently – a piece called  ”36 Ventilators, 4.7m3 Packing Chips” by the Swiss artist Zimoun for the Museo d’Arte di Lugano

 

 

 

The amazing similarity of this piece to ocean waves and flowing water is breathtaking. No doubt, some aspects of size weight and the idea of many particles cause this movement to “flow” almost as a fluid. It reminded us of some of the natural phenomena exhibits seen at many science museums. We’re very intrigued by the idea of experimenting with this behavior in different spaces and different contexts.

What do you think? What other exhibits, installations, or devices do these projects remind you of?

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04.18.14:

gold bug

So, this week we wanted to highlight an artist and work that may not be new to many art museum readers but certainly might be new to some science and history museum people and probably also to many designers out there. The work is called The Golden Roach Project by the artist Miklos Kiss.

 

 

 

Miklos places these in museums around the world, as he states about roaches: “It is found anywhere in the World, considered everywhere as a pest and a source of infections, and exterminated anywhere possible. Opposite to this, the roaches in my creations go through multiple changes. Walking into the culture’s holy space, they turn to gold in the museums, which represent art, and this pushes the question of art. At this point the action is made classic and contemporary at the same time. The smuggling effect is “roachy” and reflects a contemporary approach, while in materials and workmanship it recalls of classic art pieces.”

 

 

He encourages others to take these roaches or buy them, and while almost all are just gold-plated plastic, one is actually pure gold. In addition, people can post images of their roach in various places and, if the citation is tagged correctly, it can go up his website.

Miklos draws attention to how this idea of smuggling could also be considered in reverse – “This should bring the attention to a reverse situation, where an effective and valuable object will be smuggled in on the way in to the museum.”

 

 

 

Here at the studio, we are loving several aspects of this whole concept – making something precious by its material and where it’s places, the sort of “treasure” aspect of the one gold roach, and the interactivity with the viewers in a medium where physical interactivity is not often seen.

It makes us wonder how some of these concepts could be exported and adapted to have visitors in other types of museums create an interactive and dynamic social expression physically. How might this idea be adapted for a science center? A zoo?

What do you think? What does this concept inspire you to want to try?!

 

 

 

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04.10.14:

the dark side strikes back

So, as we have blogged about before, our friends in the marketing world often create experiences that inspire us here at the studio. At times these great ideas are even for museums. So this week we thought we would share three projects we found inspirational.

The first is an experience that can bring strangers together for conversation. Meet the Coffee Connector from the Economic Development Board of Singapore.

 

 

 

As you can see in the video, this requires two people to make cups of coffee. The interaction that leads to actually getting a cup of coffee puts users in a position to provide both a name and a subject to talk about. While it certainly affirms our studio’s belief that coffee is the center of the universe in the morning (martinis do that in evening – look for the Martini Connector next), this is a great model to potentially explore for a museum setting. It seems intriguing to create an activity where the payoff is not about the subject per se but instead is about people talking about the subject.

The second is the fun and evocative campaign for the Paris Zoological Park by Ubi Bene,

 

 

 

 

 

 

The idea of three-dimensional “artifacts” or leave-behinds is very interesting… and certainly this is an idea that could be reused for different subjects. Also, it allows for some great photo opportunities that extend the zoo’s impact.

Finally, here’s something about a subject we here in study have worked on quite a bit. Take a look at how food and cooking can be transformed in a film. Film by Blink Productions and Wieden + Kennedy London

 

 

 

This just goes to show that many subjects could be made more interesting and more engaging when humor and theatrics are applied in ways that don’t detract or distract from the subject. Certainly a treatment like this might be a great way to introduce people to a subject before diving into more substantial content. This film did a wonderful job setting a mood.

 

What creative marketing and communications examples have you seen lately? How might those ideas help us create more memorable and engaging experiences for visitors?

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