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"Nuts and bolts":
interactive exibits
Exhibit
development & fabrication
Designs
& performance specifications
Discovery
Disks: mobile mini-interactives
Underwater
Street Discovery Centre
Moscow
Planetarium
Sellafield
Visitor Centre
'Alternative
energy'
Earth
Science
Fixed
Discovery Disks, Glasgow
Air-table,
telescope, moon-phases
Astronomy
exhibits for Valencia
Biometrics
Magnetic
field exhibit for CERN, Geneva
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: magnetism
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: Light
More
Light interactives
"Academic"
interactives: The Energy Enzyme
"Academic
interactives": Electron beams
"Academic
interactives": Mantle geology
Working
canal-lock model
Virtual
exhibit: Ich bin einmalig
Chemistry
interactives: Chirality
Video
microscopes: Melting crystal
Push-button
quiz: Breath of life
Environmental
& biological
Cookbook
outlines of my 1992 "classical" Great Explorations interactives
Talk to me!
UK phone/fax
+44 (0) 1663 743794
Email ian@interactives.co.uk
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The
Energy Enzyme
A 'high-tech' mobile exhibition for Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire;
associated with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
Completed in Spring 1998, this complex project was conceived, designed,
fabricated and installed within a single month.
The Synchrotron Radiation Source at Daresbury was the first in the world.
More recently it was a crucial tool in discovering the awesomely intricate
structure of part of the ATP synthase molecule: work which was rewarded
by a shared Nobel Prize in 1997.
The brief for this exhibition was to find an effective way to demonstrate
the importance of Daresbury Laboratory in contributing to this prestigious
discovery. Some kind of interactive exhibit was indicated, but very much
a high-level one for adults instead of the usual youthful audience.
Even so, it was still necessary to stop people in their tracks, then capture
and hold their attention long enough to convey the necessary message.
Experience of designing highly appealing exhibits for children turned
out to be extremely valuable once again. The Energy Enzyme exhibition
was made in three parts: a well-illustrated graphics panel with an overview
of the story; a touch-screen computer 'kiosk' with detailed information
about the molecule and its discovery; and a stunning 'mechanical-multimedia'
model of the molecule to 'hook' people's attention and give an instant
feel for the concept..
 
A black,
"floating", interactive, back-projection screen (Click for larger
image)
This was the most spectacular part and consisted of a backlit, mechanical
model using cogs and cams to demonstrate the amazing rotating mechanism
now known to exist inside this molecular factory 'assembly-line' for producing
ATP. But the clever bit was that this working model was actually connected
to a beautiful, computer-generated 3-d image of the ATP synthase molecule
projected onto a sophisticated, black, back-projection screen suspended
between curved carbon-fibre rods. As visitors turned the mechanical model,
so the projected image of the molecule rotated, convulsed, and audibly
squelched on the screen, like a heap of multicoloured spaghetti.
Science Minister, John Battle, could not resist playing with it. He studied
the Energy Enzyme and its message thoughtfully for a long time,
and mentioned the link between Daresbury Laboratory and the Nobel Prize
work in a subsequent speech. Mission accomplished!
July
1998 : the Duke of Edinburgh also liked it!
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