Ideum designs interactive and immersive exhibits for the San Diego Zoo

Two new buildings and more than twenty interactive and immersive experiences created by Ideum for the Zoo de San Diego and its Wildlife Explorers camp, in collaboration with HGW Architects will be operational at the beginning of 2022.

The San Diego Zoo (in California) is one of the largest and most important zoos not only in the United States, but worldwide. and from all over the world, with some 4.000 copies of more than 800 different species.

After almost four years of planning and development, in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA), the architectural studio HGW and the audiovisual company Ideum, the new Wildlife Explorers camp located in this well-known zoo will begin its activity to the public in 2022.

To design and carry out this experience for the ‘explorers’, composed of more than twenty exhibits for the indoor spaces of the zoo, Ideum has developed an innovative play and learning environment for children.

Among other elements, Ideum has developed custom touch and interactive tables, immersive projections, microscope stations and more than fifty digital systems, all controlled by a comprehensive content management system (cms).

All these systems are distributed in the two new buildings of the San Diego Zoo: that of Herpetology and Ichthyology (reptile-focused, amphibians and fish) and Invertebrates (insects, arachnids and crustaceans).

“Los zoológicos están cambiando -asegura Rebeca Shreckengast, Director of Creative Services at Ideum-. More than presenting species in their habitats, tiene que brindar actividades científicas prácticas y experiencias creativas y participativas”.

In the new buildings of Herpetology and Invertebrates, visitors meet ‘face to face’ with iguanas and insects stick behind a glass. Thanks to multimedia technology, exploration is improved beyond what can be seen in this way.

“Los visitantes se acercan para ver de cerca el ala de un escarabajo o la piel de una serpiente y luego crean dibujos y creatividades inspiradas en los detalles que descubren -continúa Shreckengast-. Multimedia content animates context and interactivity supports learning objectives around the importance of insects, reptiles, Etc. Y esas experiencias compartidas ayudan a generar empatía por estas poblaciones sensibles”.

The Ideum team has developed a wide range of experiences for the Invertebrate building, including the immersive Migration exhibition; a room with a vaulted ceiling in which insects are projected as they fly over the heads of visitors, with a scene of a dynamically lit meadow on its walls.

Visitors can see migratory butterflies, fireflies and more as this dynamic environment changes from day to night. The surround sound and smell of flowers and grass make you feel part of the action during your tour.

Also noteworthy is the interactive display of the stick insect, with two large high-resolution multi-touch screens; as well as that of the weaver spiders creating their complex webs with images in timelapse, among others.

In the new building of Herpetology and Ichthyology, visitors will find themselves under a river of light when they access the first floor. The exhibition Living river it is configured as an immersive Led light sculpture that extends over almost the entire ceiling.

For this, a large bank of luminaires and animations has been installed, computer-controlled, that bring a sense of movement and dynamism to this space, in which visitors can see crocodiles and partially submerged fish along the course of this ‘digital river’.

Both buildings also offer interactive exhibits with elements designed and custom-made by Ideum, as two multi-user microscope stations, touch screens integrated with software so visitors can examine flora and fauna up close, take a snapshot, add notes and share them, just as a naturalist would.

There are also two touch tables with custom RFID capability, also developed by Ideum, that run their own software so that volunteers and caregivers can share multimedia content while interacting with visitors, as well as with games.

As Jim Spadaccini points out, founder and CEO of Ideum, it is one of the largest installations made by the company. “Es una combinación única de exhibiciones zoológicas tradicionales y medios inmersivos e interactivos. Realmente no hay un ejemplo comparativo en ningún otro zoológico o lugar”.

Other articles on HGW Architects, Ideum, Zoo de San Diego