Interactivity can be a great ally of Education Centers, Tourist Centers and Museums.

Needs

Esposende Ambiente is a public company with four main responsibilities: collection and wastewater treatment, collection and disposal of solid waste, cleaning and sanitation and the creation and preservation of green spaces.

Within their facilities is included a space dedicated to the environmental education of the general population. So, Esposende Ambiente decided to create a physical space where people could learn more about the environment.
The facility is located in an old farm, where the building was rebuilt and restored using environment friendly materials, and the looks of both the facade and interiors were kept intact.

Inside the old building, they wanted visitors to discover the environmental aspects of the region, such as the biodiversity, the natural heritage (river, forest), what is being made in terms of waste management and what can be seen and discovered in the region. Esposende Ambiente respects a lot the environment and the cultural and natural heritage of the region, but at the same time is a very modern and innovative company in its areas of expertise.
So, they wanted this Environmental Education Center to be just like that, to preserve the natural heritage in an interactive and engaging way.

Project

Esposende Ambiente required the space to be accurate in its contents, to be entertaining and engaging and to be innovative. It also had to be usable by people with physical disabilities.

They also wanted to stay in control of the contents management, so the creation of back-offices for most of the equipments was a necessity.

Monitoring maintenance was also requested, and to do that effectively, we setup a server connected to all equipments, that allows remote monitoring for critical aspects, such as temperature, uptime, display monitoring, amongst other items.

The interactive journey has various stages. As an introduction, “action” begins in a reception area, moving to an exhibition entry, and then a 3D video welcomes everyone to the Environmental Education Center.

After that, people are invited to explore different issues related to the environment and its protection, by going through the Waste management, Biodiversity, Water and Energy and climate changes areas.

The center mascots are present throughout all the interactive exhibition, helping to promote environmental values in a fun and memorable way.

Reception Area

When visitors enter the center, right next to the reception, there is an Interactive Tower.

In this equipment, visitors can view more information about this exhibition and its different areas, touristic information about Esposende and its points of interest, news, a calendar of events, contacts and also give feedback or address questions about the city or the Environmental Education Center.

To emphasize the beauty of Esposende, the background displays a selection of some of its outstanding landscapes.This is just the perfect help to plan your visit to the center’s facilities and exhibition and, after that, to enjoy the attractions of Esposende’s region, by exploring the two interactive maps included in this app.

Still in the reception, next to an area dedicated to expositions, there is a wall module that allows the visitor to take a picture of himself, draw and paint on it, chose a frame, and then send it to a friend’s email, with a message attached.

It’s a great solution to share with friends, relatives or even himself a digital memory and souvenir of the thrilling interactive experience that is about to begin. The postcard of the digital era!

Exhibition Entry

After a pleasant walk from the reception area to the building that houses the interactive exhibition, visitors are welcomed by an interactive floor that sets a first impression of what they are about to experience.

Contents related to nature and environmental issues are displayed, such as fishes, birds, bugs, flowers, garbage, clouds and sea, with which you can interact just by walking and moving around.

Welcome

The center’s mascots welcome visitors and explain what they are going to learn in each area, in a 3D movie. Each mascot represents a specific subject (recycling and waste, energy, water and forest).

This movie was specifically developed to be visible not only from people who are directly in front of the display, but also from a side perspective. So, about 15 people can watch it together.

Waste Management

Starting with the Waste management area, fun begins with EDIGMA Crayon Wall, an interactive wall module with educational games for children.

The contents aim to teach important concepts of life in society to kids, while they’re playing.
This solution includes a “letters soup” game, in which children should find words like “reduce”, “reuse” and “recycle” , a “quiz” with several questions about waste management, and a “memory” game, where kids have to find the pairs of cards with the same waste related images.

Now, it’s time to play with DISPLAX Moovit Wall, a huge interactive wall with a 2,5 m x 2 m projection area and gesture recognition.
While waste falls from the sky, people have to lead it to the correct bin where it should fall, by waving their arms.
What a nice way of learning basic recycling principals, and doing some exercise at the same time!

Biodiversity

Having learned what should be done in terms of waste management, visitors move to the next area, Biodiversity.

Here, the goal is to show the diversity of life forms in the region.
First, visitors find an interactive videowall with several videos related to the Esposende’s region natural heritage (fauna, flora, forest, river, sea). All videos are displayed simultaneously, and when a user touches one of them, it starts playing in full screen mode.

The other solution dedicated to Biodiversity is DISPLAX Showcase, a table with two interactive showcase shelves on the sides. In those shelves, there are objects that represent different aspects of the Biodiversity (mockups of animals and plants), and when users click on the buttons above those objects, information about the corresponding animals or plants is displayed. This LCD is also interactive, so that users can browse the multimedia application and explore more information (text, images and videos).
The mockups consist in representations of each Animal Group (Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Fish, Amphibians, Marine Invertebrates, Terrestrial Invertebrates) and Plants and Algae.