The Mind Museum Opening, Part 3: The Technology of Play

March 21, 2012

Welcome to the third and final segment of our tour of The Mind Museum in Taguig, Philippines. The museum’s first four galleries proclaimed the wonders of Nature. Our last indoor gallery heralds the innovations of humankind.

The Story of Technology is the largest of The Mind Museum’s galleries, encompassing the entire upper floor and overlooking the other four gallery spaces. It is divided into five major themes, each occupying a node: How We Live, Who We Are, How We Know, How Things Work, and Here to There. The Who We Are Node explores the tools we use to create, modify or spread human language, as well as other expressions such as art, literature and fashion. How We Are examines precision and ingenuity, featuring tools such as telescopes and microscopes that challenge us to discover the illusive, invisible and immeasurable.

In the How Things Work node, guests explore the mechanics that changed the world. Whether for manufacturing, building public infrastructures, or processing food or oil to sustain millions of lives, the tools in this gallery have altered human society. From the machines that build, to those that transport, visitors learn about mobility and speed in the Here to There node, which features vessels that carry humans and the things we humans like to carry with us. Velocity and motion give way to sustainability and wellbeing in the How We Live node, which spotlights the tools we use to live, work, play or heal and how they impact our health and the health of our planet.

The crown jewel of this gallery is The Human Face of Technology. Comprised of a 360-degree screen featuring uploaded videos of people saying what there favorite technology is and why, this exhibit can be seen by visitors from almost every angle throughout the entire museum. Not only does the Human Face of Technology provide a beautiful centerpiece for this dynamic space, it offers a personal angle to the technology story, one that extends far beyond the tools, gadgets and machines we use everyday.

Our final area juxtaposes this technology story by exposing the guests to the elements of nature. Science-in-the-Park, an outdoor exhibit area, offers a variety of entertaining science experiences entitled “Nature’s Artful Play.” The 800-square-meter park features four play pockets: Water, Math, Music and Living. The Math Pocket offers exhibits such as a fulcrum and a curved climbing wall, which challenge both the mind and senses in a fun and whimsical way. Visitors of all size and ages can play indigenous drums, a large flute, or a singing forest of wind chimes in the Music Pocket. “Wild” is the word in the Living Pocket, with creatures such as cobras, eagles and dragonflies allowing guests to “get into their heads” and plants demonstrating their capacities to filter water. Finally, guests can unleash the power of water by turning an Archimedes screw, spinning a water wheel or chasing bubbles in the Water Pocket.

The Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. designed The Mind Museum experience to extend far beyond the guest’s actual physical visit. Through virtual exhibits such as “Light the Northern Hemisphere,” “Catch a Comet,” or “Explore Nature’s Basic Ingredients,” visitors continue their learning and are inspired to return to the museum.

“It was an honor and a pleasure to work with The Mind Museum, and it is a thrill to see it open,” said Matthew Wheeler, JRA Senior Project Director. “We greatly enjoyed collaborating with the BAFI team and have always appreciated their passion for this project and science education in general.”

Manny Bias II, Managing Director of The Mind Museum and BAFI, also enjoyed the spirit of teamwork and goodwill exemplified in the project, “The JRA people didn't just do great work for The Mind Museum, they became great friends. After they completed the contracted work, they kept in touch with us to check on our progress, and to just spur us on. When we opened the museum five years later, JRA was there to celebrate with us.”

JRA would like to congratulate everyone at BAFI and The Mind Museum on a successful opening. We’re sure this auspicious beginning is a sign of great things to come.

 

Tags: Asia , JRA Journeys , Outside the Studio , Project Spotlight

Add comment

The Mind Museum Opening, Part 2: Nature's Building Blocks

March 20, 2012

For Part 2 of our celebration of The Mind Museum’s grand opening, we’ll visit two more of the science center’s galleries – one offering a glimpse of Nature’s work in macro terms, the second distilling everything around us into a fraction of a particle.

The Human Brain

The Story of Life features the defining exhibit of The Mind Museum – “The Human Brain.” One of the largest exhibits in the museum, The Human Brain features consoles on memory, the senses and motion and is designed with interactive multi-media illustrating what happens to our brains through various moods (e.g., sadness, joy, and fear). Another Story of Life gallery, “Adaptations,” offers a three-part tutorial on how different animals adapt to their surroundings, such as camouflage and mimicry. Guests can also enjoy an interactive 3D exhibit of the human body, a Bernoulli blower, and a walk-through exhibit documenting the evolution of mammals from sea to land to air.

Big Small Wonders

Given that the topic of life is so vast, there is a vast array of exhibit experiences in The Story of Life. Guests continue their journey by viewing “Big Small Wonders” through a microscope and seeing their finds magnified on a monitor. They deepen their understanding of genes through “Gifts Through the Past: Chromosomes” and compare numbers of species through the free-standing exhibit “Rooms of Life: Sizes and Shapes.” Other exhibits educate visitors on the topics of the human body, evolution and the interconnectedness of life. Through The Story of Life, children and adults alike are reminded that although we are uniquely “us,” we are all part of the global life network.

The Story of The Atom gallery

The Story of The Atom takes the grandness of life and distills it into its smallest building blocks. With more interactive exhibits than any other gallery, it contains the very elemental forces that we so often take for granted – gravity and electromagnetism. The highlight of the gallery is the Atom Centerpiece, which features “Atom in A Box,” a fascinating 3D visualization of an atom developed by a physicist. While serving as the building block of life, the atom is also the building block for the technologies we use everyday – from TVs to computers, cell phones to tablets. In this gallery, guests can witness the chaotic motion of a levitating pendulum, make lights glow different colors by adjusting pressure and gasses, activate a human-powered Tesla coil, and learn that “Everything is Made of Atoms” through a sculptural exhibit featuring a deconstructed chocolate bar. JRA designed this gallery to move these microscopic particles and invisible forces into the context of everyday life, creating a larger story around the infinitesimal atom.

This deconstructed chocolate bar shows how everything is made of atoms.

“With a science exhibition designer, you would need a group that respects the story that you bring to the project,” said Maribel Garcia of Bonifacio Art Foundation Inc. “JRA not only respected our concepts, they helped refine them and build a story around them that was wonderful to behold. It was like seeing your distilled imagination cloaked in shapes and color ready to step into reality!”

Two small guests have a hair-raising experience in The Story of The Atom.

For these last two days, we’ve examined The Mind Museum galleries that focus on the foundations of the past (The Universe, The Earth) and the building blocks of our present (Life, The Atom). Tomorrow, we’ll focus on the future through the museum’s The Story of Technology gallery, before ending our tour outside with “Nature’s Artful Play” in Science-in-the-Park.
 

Tags: Asia , JRA Journeys , Outside the Studio , Project Spotlight

Add comment

Free Your Mind: The Mind Museum Opens in the Philippines

March 19, 2012

The long-anticipated opening of The Mind Museum has finally arrived, as this state-of-the-art science center opened its doors to the public last Friday. Part of the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, The Mind Museum hosts over 250 interactive “minds-on” and “hand-on” exhibits, making it the first world-class science museum in the Philippines.

Jack Rouse Associates, in collaboration with the Bonifacio Arts Foundation Inc. (BAFI), provided master planning, conceptual and schematic design for this 4,900-square-meter facility. There are so many wonderful experiences here, we couldn’t contain them in just one post, so over the next three days we’ll be profiling all of the wonderful exhibits and attractions that The Mind Museum has to offer.

Visitors begin their journey in the spacious Mariano K. Tan Hall lobby. While in the introductory hall, they are welcomed by a robot, created by Japanese company Kokoro, Ltd., who introduces them to the overall mission of the museum. Guests then encounter the “Ten Most Beautiful Experiments”, an audio-visual exploration of major scientific breakthroughs, such as when Sir Isaac Newton discovered that white light has all the colors of the rainbow.

Once visitors have passed through the lobby, they can choose among the five gallery spaces, all of which offer compelling stories related to science and technology. The galleries are linked (both spatially and contextually) by a series of exhibits and audio-visual presentations called “Nature’s Webways.” In the first gallery, The Story of the Universe, visitors learn how all life began in the stars of space. At its center is the Spaceshell, a mini-planetarium that can hold 50 visitors at one time. Rather than sitting on chairs, guests lie on cushions so as to mimic looking up at the night sky. As they gaze upward, they see films on the planets and the stars.

“What is on Mars?”, another feature of The Story of The Universe, offers guests the opportunity to learn more about the Red Planet thanks to data provided by NASA. They can maneuver a remote-controlled rover over a simulated Martian landscape or “try on” a 3D spacesuit. Other features in this area include a mechanical representation of Einstein’s Theory, an interactive model of the solar system, a suspended model of the moon that can be manipulated by the guest, audio-visual pods that simulate the sounds of space and an LCD display that poses the age-old question, “are we alone?”

From the far reaches of space, guests shift their gaze homeward to The Story of The Earth. In this gallery, they’ll meet Stan, the first cast of a T-Rex to be exhibited in the Philippines. At over 40-feet tall, Stan is the most complete T-Rex cast ever found. He is displayed along with a simulated excavation, where guests can pretend to dig for fossils. Featuring natural history from 4.6 million years ago, The Story of The Earth also offers exhibits such as “Nature’s Hourglass”, a 50-seat amphitheater and virtual time machine that offers two short films on the story of our planet. Guests can receive the latest on the Earth’s typhoons, volcanoes and more through “Knowing Home: Floating Globe,” travel through zones representing the five plant and animal kingdoms through the “Canopy of Life”, maneuver an earthquake simulation table, replicate a volcano eruption or recreate a swirling tornado. All of these experiences aim to better connect the guest with our dynamic planet.

JRA strove to design these galleries as dynamic and engaging spheres of learning that would inspire the youth of the Philippines to explore the realms of science and technology and bolster the country’s growing reputation for innovation.

“When choosing the design team that would work with us in The Mind Museum,” said Manny Bias II, Managing Director of BAFI and The Mind Museum, “we looked for both talent and chemistry. We had to make that judgment based on videoconference interviews. It turned out that the JRA designers were more than telegenic – they are designers that could help us visualize our vision; they understood our limitations; and they were just a fun team to work with.

These galleries are only a small glimpse of all there is to explore at The Mind Museum. Tomorrow we’ll discover more of its rich offerings, as we journey into The Story of Life and the Story of the Atom.
 

Tags: Asia , JRA Journeys , Project Spotlight

Add comment

Project Spotlight: C'MON in! Golisano Children's Museum of Naples Now Open

February 29, 2012

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog series for a special Project Spotlight feature.

Southwest Florida is now home to a new family destination, as Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (C’MON) opened its doors to the public yesterday. Conceived in 2002 by Allyson Loos to address the need for more inclusive family experiences in Collier County, the mission of C’MON is “to provide an exciting, inspiring environment where children and their families play, learn and dream together.”

Fishing Pier "At the Beach"

Jack Rouse Associates, along with educational consultant Mary Sinker, provided overall planning, design development and fabrication and installation project management for C’MON’s 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibit space. Through the museum’s 12 galleries, children and families learn about such topics as regional history, agricultural, geography and weather, all while enjoying an environment of engaging and cooperative play. JRA and Sinker based the design on three interrelated principles: an appreciation of children’s play behavior, knowledge of how an environment can influence play and learning, and an understanding of children’s developmental milestones.

Trolley in "The Street"

Specific exhibit areas include:

• • An outdoor edge maze and amphitheater
• • Journey Through the Everglades
• • Banyan Tree
• • At the Beach
• • World Café
• • Produce Market and Farm
• • Mother Nature’s House
• • ABC Lot (Toddler Area)
• • Curious Kids (Pre-Teen Area)
• • Pet Vet
• • Green Construction
• • Art Gallery and Studio

A delivery truck connects the "Farm" to the "Produce Market"

According to the museum’s website, exhibits were created to meet Florida’s Sunshine State curriculum standards, and all are accessible for individuals with developmental, hearing, physical, social/emotional and visual challenges.

The museum offered a special opening weekend to its 2,000 members, and a feature from the Naples Daily News lauded it as a "hit" and included some pint-sized “thumbs ups” from its early reviewers. When interviewed for the article, Heather Patton, director of external affairs, said that kids were “crying as they were leaving" and that the museum "had kids here comparing it to Disney World.”

For more information on the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples, please visit their website or check our their Facebook page. Thanks for reading, and tune in next week for Part 2 of our Media Moves! series – Production.
 

Tags: JRA Journeys , Project Spotlight

Add comment

Project Spotlight Throwback Edition: Texas Wild! at the Fort Worth Zoo

September 13, 2011

Howdy, y'all!  For today's project spotlight throwback, we're takin' it to Texas to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the successful Texas Wild! exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo.

Jack Rouse Associates worked directly with the Fort Worth Zoo's team in the development of Texas Wild!, an eight-acre expansion highlighting the abundant, unique and varied wildlife of Texas. The goal was to create experiences that not only educate and entertain guests, but also instill a sense of responsibility and pride for their role in the future of their environment.

Texas Wild!’s exhibitry focuses on the tremendous diversity in both the flora and fauna of this unique state while highlighting the positive role man can play in both the environment and its wildlife. Displays highlight indigenous wildlife species in scenarios that emphasize the powerful dynamics of nature, of which man is an integral part. A strong message concerning man’s stewardship responsibility is also conveyed through a variety of educational and entertaining experiences.

Texas Wild! is subdivided into three zones. The first zone, a tranquil and transitional area, includes elements such as a train ride, water features and a western-style carousel. The second zone, Texas Town, includes a petting zoo, play barn, the town jail and the Texas Town Hall. The Town Hall building features a weather-effects theater and a variety of exhibits which focus on ranching, hunting, the plants and animals of Texas and man as steward of the land. The last zone includes five different ecological regions of Texas: Short Grass Prairie, Pineywoods, Coastal Marsh, Brush Country and Mountains and Desert. Over 80 animals indigenous to these five areas are represented in appropriately themed environments.

Jack Rouse Associates’ services included concept development through production of all the area’s interpretive elements, interactive exhibits and graphics. Texas Wild opened to the public in 2001 and is still going strong 10 years later.

Yee haw!  Thanks for saddlin' up to this Project Spotlight segment.  Thursday, we'll finish up our Drawing Conclusions series, and next Tuesday we'll explore the sillier side of Cincinnati's German heritage. 

 

Tags: Project Spotlight

Add comment