Fall 2008 - Winter 2009

Besides full-time work at BBI Engineering, French class and AutoCAD, I worked a little freelance exhibit development for Jessica Brainard, writing some exhibit design narratives for the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. It feels GREAT to be thinking about and writing about visitor interaction. (Specifying and installing AV equipment, drafting contracts and project management only tickles my brain so far.) The project will undoubtedly move very slowly or not at all depending on the way the economy goes in the next year but I have enjoyed working with Jessica.

And for BBI I've been specking and pricing AV equipment for Maya Lin's installation Missing which will install at the California Academy of Sciences. Very cool stuff for Maya Lin although again, funding is slowing the process down. Working with her has been very interesting and involves LCD displays outside and tamper proof glass. I've been focused on doing the outdoor testing so we can make the best assessment of what to do to fight reflections, stay within her budget and honor the aesthetic of the design: Tough stuff but interesting.

And I'm the closer for all the work BBI did to open California Academy of Sciences. The punch list is shrinking and we've almost made the full transition into Warranty Stage...

IT'S OPEN!

Finally, here are some pictures of the work that I did this past summer: Fish IDs in the Water Planet are by far the most dramatic and the most useful, as far as improving the visitor experience. And there's plenty of folks watching videos.
My favorite?
Honestly, it not the AV work at all. (Yawn.) It's the animals and the humans looking at them that I find most interesting. It's been fascinating to observe the visitors as they interact with the space and how they make use of the the interactives vs. live exhibits around them.