Connected Worlds
October 2015, New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY
What makes our worlds one?
Connected Worlds was created by Design I/O for the New York Hall of Science, with A/V integration and show control by Moey. Connected Worlds is one of the largest, most complex responsive environments ever created for a museum. It occupies 2,300sf of the science center’s iconic Great Hall, and surrounds visitors with six fourteen-foot-tall interactive screens, which present distinct, interactive natural environments, or worlds, fed by a central, thirty-eight-foot-tall digital waterfall. Dozens of visitors can engage with the experience at once by directing the water to their worlds while sharing it with others. Visitors can also use hand waves and other simple gestures to plant seeds, harvest trees, make clouds, and so on. The changes they make in their worlds affect the health of their neighbors, helping young people explore the interconnectedness of all life on Earth.
How to map a world
When a Connected Worlds session starts, the Great Hall fills with kids working together in world of colorful environments. This includes steering "water" over the floor by pushing "logs" into place. To bring the whole experience to life, we projection-mapped the entire 3D space.
How to rig a rack
The high walls and even higher waterfall of Connected Worlds create the feeling for kids that they are truly cultivating an environment. To make this happen, Moey coordinated more than twenty projectors and an enormous field of gesture sensors. Moey also designed and fabricated special mounts for the equipment, ensuring ease of installation and maintenance in an extremely vertical space.
“Moey had the diverse skills to complete the project successfully; their work was timely, within budget, and has proven to be durable. They were communicative and flexible in their work style, and responded creatively to the challenges we encountered. Great work!”
NY Hall of Science
Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer
WHAT WE’VE DONE
Fabrication
A/V integration
Show control
Interactive technology
Custom projector mounts
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