Ideum, an experiential designer of interactive exhibits, has shared details of its project with the Da Vinci Science Center in Pennsylvania, US.
The firm was appointed as the lead designer for the Curiosity Hall, an enormous immersive projection theatre. This project was one of four major halls in a new 64,000-square-foot building in the centre of Allentown.
Ideum managed project development from early concept to execution and final installation in collaboration with Roto, MKSD, and others. During this process, the firm made sure that the building infrastructure was in place to accommodate the massive 60-foot tall by nearly 60-foot wide projection surface.
The completed build featured 8 Christie projectors with a combined resolution of over 36 million pixels and 130,000 lumens.
Engaging applications
The Curiosity Hall exhibit consists of three independent group interactive applications based on Leonardo Da Vinci’s areas of study: art, engineering, and human anatomy. These applications run on a 10-minute cycle, keeping this enormous immersive environment fresh for its expected 400,000 visitors a year.
A fully rendered 3D environment is projected onto the north wall for each scene. Visitors then use nine Ideum 43” Drafting II Kiosks to add their own creations to the exhibit. With each of the three applications, visitors may delve deeper into one of Da Vinci’s research topics, such as the mechanics of flying, Renaissance art, or how to make healthy decisions in daily life.
The majority of the applications’ concept, schematic, and detailed design was delivered by Ideum. Roto’s software development team provided support for the Fit Kids application.
The exhibit’s nine kiosks can accommodate up to 36 unique visitor creations or 216 users each hour, providing ample capacity for one of the Da Vinci Science Center’s most prominent and extensive experiences. On quieter days, a seeding programme makes sure that audiences are engaged by the immersive projection.
Flexible design
Ideum created a powerful content management system (CMS) to support the project. This gives the Science Center the flexibility to update the application and incorporate partners or holidays, as well as to focus on particular SEAD (science, engineering, art, and design) educational objectives as they evolve.
In addition, two auxiliary projectors border the show hall and accompany the main projection wall. These extra projection surfaces connect to the CMS and enable the attraction to display “Profiles in Curiosity.” These profiles aim to inspire local schoolchildren to pursue SEAD occupations by highlighting historical or local personalities who embody Da Vinci’s curiosity.
Curiosity Hall is one of the biggest halls in the Da Vinci Science Center and a key space for the Allentown community. As such, the kiosks have been designed to be removed from the floor, and the Science in the Making theatre can be accessed by opening a folding wall.
In total, the Science Centre can accommodate hundreds of people seated or dozens of banquet tables. The north wall projection system was designed to be used as a large format screen, or at its full 3,600 square foot expanse, via an external video signal. As a result, the Curiosity Hall provides an impressive space for lectures, concerts, or weddings.
Ideum recently revealed details of a group of three exhibits which it has created for the new Dueling Dinosaurs display at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, US. The exhibits use 3D models to achieve a range of interpretative objectives and illustrate the potential of 3D digitisation.
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