Design Inspiration: Afrigadget.com

I love people who design wonderful things with limited resources. I really think that when you have to struggle a little, you come up with better, more creative solutions (instead of just throwing money at problems in an effort to make them go away.)

One of my new favorite museum design inspirations in this regard is the AfriGadget blog. Most of the AfriGadget postings outline how an African entrepreneur or tinkerer used simple materials to address a problem facing their local community. So you'll find out about such items as bamboo bicycles and low-tech energy generation devices.

AfriGadget reminds me of an excellent exhibition that I saw in NYC at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Design For The Other 90%, that I reviewed for ExhibitFiles.

What other sites or resources do you use to make "more from less"?
Post your answers in the Comments section below!

Exhibit Maker's Toolbox: United Nuclear

As a follow-up to my "Dangerous Science" post, several folks asked about United Nuclear.

Once you get past their ominous sounding name, the folks at U.N. can provide just about anything a budding mad scientist could desire: GIANT neodymium magnets, check. Radioactive materials, check. The types of chemicals that create wonderful explosions, check!

Naturally, all of these materials are to be handled judiciously, but aside from the inherent "cool" factor, United Nuclear is worth supporting on general principles since the Office of Homeland Security (among others) have tried to shut them down for making "dangerous" materials available to people.

The End of Dangerous Science?

This clip from WIRED Science laments the decline of "dangerous" science toys and experiences for kids. They visit the Chemical Heritage Foundation (with its own historical collection of chemistry sets!) to show how wimpy science toys have become. Case in point: a "Chemistry Set" with NO chemicals!

Perhaps toymakers fear of liability lawsuits has helped contribute to the 60% decrease in chemistry graduates since the 1960s.

Of course, science museum exhibits are often just as guilty of the "wimpiness" factor. Safety first (or second, or third) of course, but are there ways to let visitors get involved in experiences that are a little messy and/or risky? That is, more like real science?

Do you have any good (or bad) examples of messy/risky/dangerous science exhibits to share? Let us know in the Comments section!

COSI Toledo: Act 2?

I just received word that the fine folks at COSI Toledo, which "officially" closed at the end of 2007 (see this previous ExhibiTricks post) have decided to keep in the game by offering a suite of outreach experiences to area schools. It's my understanding from personal communication and news reports that the museum facility remains closed to the public, and that all of the exhibits have been wrapped up and stored.

I wish the folks in Toledo luck. Perhaps now that they are starting from "square one" (in the sense that many museums first operate as a facility "without walls" providing outreach programs, etc. before they gain a permanent home) COSI Toledo may be able to garner important community and political support and reopen in a revitalized form.

If not, I sure hope all the exhibits find good homes!

Disneyland 2.0: A Lesson for Designers?

This interesting article in the New York Times outlines the plans for upgrading Disney's California Adventure park, which one critic characterized as having a “cheap strip-mall stucco aesthetic" into a more polished, and participatory, experience for visitors.

The article details the costs and plans for creating a new interactive Toy Story ride that lets visitors compete against each other with video game type elements.

While most museum designers will never encounter the enormous budgets employed in this project, there are several key lessons that apply to any new museum project:

1) Make sure you don't "cheap out" on initial construction and materials. Try to use project resources to create environments that use materials that provide long-term value and maintainability. The NY Times article highlights how much more expensive it has been, in time and money, to go back after the initial construction. It would have made better long-term sense to have taken the time and money to do things right the first time. Too many museums are guilty of this "we'll make it better once it's open" mentality.

2) Prototype, prototype, prototype! The article gives a nice snapshot of the lengths Disney goes to in testing out people's reactions to every aspect of the new Toy Story ride. (My favorite is the description of the down and dirty plywood ride vehicle in front of a projection screen used to gauge visitor response.) Why should Museums "prototype like the mouse?" Because its a lot cheaper to fix or modify things at the plywood and duct tape stage than after the fact.

3) Let visitors be part of the action.The article points out that not even Disney can get away with just pretty "eye candy" for paying customers to gawk at. Customers, especially those who have grown up with MTV, video games, and the Internet, demand more opportunities for interactivity and instant gratification. (There are some interesting details about how many different types of resources Disney is employing to keep people happy while they are waiting in line.)
Museums should always ask "how can I create another opportunity or design element to help visitors engage with this exhibit? "

Windbelts: Great Energy Exhibit Idea!

Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in California, got the idea for his innovative "Windbelt" technology while thinking about the way wind and vibrations caused the infamous Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse. (See YouTube video at the end of this post.)

While working in Haiti, Shawn saw the need first-hand for an inexpensive way to generate electricity. Unfortunately, wind turbines were not very efficient when scaled down, had inherent safety issues for anything that got caught in the spinning blades, and all the copper wire required to create most types of turbines was expensive.

Shawn then came up with the elegant Windbelt approach and formed a start-up company called Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC.

Here's a simple set of instructions to make your own Windbelt-related project from Instructables.com that would be a great part of an Energy or Green Materials exhibition!