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.

To see the full Fast Company review click here

ALCHEMY studio was hired to work with the staff of the Cooper Hewitt to develop and prototype the experiences in the Process Lab and test how these would work within both the operating parameters of the museum and the overall design architecture. Activities found in the Process Lab were developed from a series of workshops with staff followed by prototyping with potential visitors. Activities were developed for both physical interactives as well as media platforms.

The Process Lab places visitors in the role of designer by inviting them into the design process itself: observing and identifying design challenges; brainstorming creative solutions; making models and prototypes; and testing new ideas.

Activities include a central collaborative “lightscape” that lets visitors create shape, shadow, and color effects. Visitors also have the chance to create a design mash-up: making up a new product by combining two items from their bags – or by including a random oject. Visitors also improve existing designs, comment on others’ design choices, and add to a design talkback board.

The Process Lab has been drawing attention and praise for the creative, open-ended ways it invites visitors to take on the role of designer, engage with collections objects, and spiral through the design process itself.

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?

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?

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?

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!

The Association of Children’s Museum (ACM) Interactivity Conference in Phoenix, AZ

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Expo in Seattle, WA

The European Network of Science Centres and Museums (ECSITE) in The Hague, Netherlands

Come see us in the exhibit hall or between sessions. We look forward to talking with you about more of the things that have been inspiring us, hearing about your projects, and connecting in person.  Meanwhile, we can share a few things we’re thinking about and learning about through recent projects this year.

Journey Through Autism

Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum of Utah & Autism Council of Utah

ALCHEMY studio has been engaged to help launch the early phases of an innovative traveling exhibition intended to build understanding and empathy for people living along the autism spectrum. Drawing from authentic experience, family stories, and children’s own perspectives, Journey Through Autism will educate, inspire, enlighten, and open hearts and minds.

The Lab

Children’s Science Center (CSC)

As a showcase site for this emerging Northern Virginia science museum, The Lab will serve as an activity and communications launchpad for CSC’s future, larger site – providing hands-on activities promoting STEM learning, inquiry engagement, tinkering, innovative demonstrations, and an area for young “budding scientists.” ALCHEMY studio has been engaged to advance planning and design for the site, which will also be an active, hands-on prototyping studio. See their recent press here. ALCHEMY studio is also helping on the thinking for the future permanent site as well.

Process Lab

Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

As part of the Museum’s comprehensive expansion and renovation, the Process Lab will engage visitors in the design process – defining problems, brainstorming solutions, making/modeling prototypes, and testing solutions – through hands-on, inquiry-based activities that relate to the Museum’s collections objects. ALCHEMY studio is developing, testing, and designing activities that will invite visitors to practice some of the skills designers use every day while being playful, creative, and collaborative.

Energy Neighborhood

Discovery Museum & Planetarium

Discovery Museum & Planetarium, in Bridgeport, CT, is re-vamping an energy gallery to refresh the messages and create a more immersive, open-ended experience. ALCHEMY studio has been engaged to advance the project’s vision, develop activities, advance immersive design elements relating to the neighborhood theme, and build on the Museum’s extensive local network to create relevant everyday links for children and families.

Dream Big

MacGillivray Freeman Films and the American Society of Civil Engineers

In partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers and MacGillivray Freeman Films, ALCHEMY studio is developing Dream Big, a multi-layered initiative focused on large-scale civil engineering projects. The group’s efforts will result in a dramatic and memorable large-format film featuring current projects from across the globe, year-round museum-based programming offered by a huge (and already very active) network of engineering professionals, training support, and other project elements. As part of its approach, Dream Big consciously builds on recent insights about engaging girls and young women in engineering disciplines.

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?

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?