SHORT CIRCUIT - DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION
June 2019
CONTEXT
Digital technology has become a major part of our everyday life. Short Circuit immersive exhibition is mean to present people with the possible negative consequences of misusing technology, Internet and social media.
The concept of the project is to take the visitor on the journey through multiple spaces. They can register at the start and take part in the series of activities while their progress is individually monitored. At the end of their visit, each person gets a personalized profile of the type of digital user they are.
The project has been adapted to fit current IBM office in Leicester.
ORIGINAL PLANS
MOODBOARD
CONCEPT MODEL
Concept model presents main design ideas in the physical form. Layered paneling is a response to a double layers to digital technology. With each one of them the view becomes less transparent. The panels have a circuit board pattern engraved on them to suggest the connection between the user and digital technology. The tangled lines also represent the visitor's journey throughout the whole exhibition.
REDESIGNED PLANS AND SECTION
Ground Floor
First Floor
Rendered Section
THE JOURNEY
1. Entering the building, visitors are greeted by the hologram and directed to the reception desk in the centre of the space to scan their tickets and complete the registration process receiving a Bluetooth bracelet. With the use of interactive bracelets, the visitor of the exhibition can interact with the exhibits and their progress on the user journey can be personalized.
2. Registered participants head to the display room where, with a short 15 minutes video, they are introduced to the purpose and concept of the exhibition. They are also inducted on how to take part in all of the exhibition's experiences.
3. The entrance to the first experience activates the Bluetooth bracelet that needs to be scanned to pass through. The set of three interactive doors allow visitors to enter the Isolation Maze. Waiting outside, people are presented with news and statistics about mental problems and addictions caused by social media.
4. The Isolation Maze presents physical and social isolation coming from using the Internet and Social Media extensively. It is an interactive space that allows people to enter the corridors one by one and see each other through the glass walls that slowly progress to opaque based on the answers for the questions the visitors are asked on the touch screens.
5. From the Isolation Maze, people can enter the VR animated lift and watch futuristic visualisation about artificial intelligence while on their way to the AI Room located on the first floor.
6. Here everyone can read the latest news on robotics and the use of Artificial Intelligence in different fields. Listen to the humanoid statue explaining the history of robots and watch a performance presenting how similar robots can become to the real human. The second part of this experience is to take a quiz and challenge yourself with a Robot's Faces Path. Answering the questions on touch screens and interacting with your digital profile through the bracelet.
7. The next step of the exhibition is an impressive walkway that floats over the middle ground floor. Circuit board - shaped path with an interactive flooring invites people to spread and watch the show displayed on the digital screens in the middle of the space. The visitors can answer some questions and and share their perspective on the digital technology on the tablets located in different parts of the walkway.
8. The walkway leads to a 'no-tech' room, which works as a break out space from digital noises and constantly flashing lights. It is a space to stop, think about the experience and share your thoughts with others. The structure of the room is connected to the roof and, with a skylight, it provides natural light to the space.
9. The final step of this immersive experience is for the visitors to collect their results, to learn what type of digital technology users they are and how it will affect them in the future. Invited to take a step on the platform, scan the bracelet and listen to the results presented to you by the holographic projection of yourself.
Steampunk styled café contradicts the general cold and 'cyber' feel of the space and brings the visitors back to the times when technology was purely mechanical.
On the left side of the reception area, visitors can explore the gift shop and learn about security on the Internet within the temporary exhibition space where the Booths for Hacking Workshops are located.
VIDEO WALK THROUGH OF SOME OF THE EXHIBITION SPACES.
AWARDS
