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PALAVA Experience Center
Lodha Developers were embarking on an exciting and unprecedented new project, to develop an entire city that will be known as Palava. This “city of the future” was to consist of over 2,800 acres in the area of Dombivali, and eventually be home to over half a million people who will live, work, and play in Palava.
Lodha had hired Lord Cultural Resources to create an exhibition to be visited by people interested in living at Palava and for those interested in the history of cities, urban studies, planning and development.
The Gallery Experience
The experience stems from the exterior itself, the visitors enter the Experience Center premise through a landscaped welcome area which houses a few static exhibits, a small amphi theatre and the registration desk.
After registration the visitors receive the smart cards and enter the exhibition. The exhibition is sequential with a uni-directional flow which the visitors can explore at their own pace.
Video Credits: Experiential Design Labs, Technology Partners
The Palava Experience Center project was a transformative journey for me. Initially a design task, it evolved into my first venture into project management, involving client liaison, coordination with multiple vendors, concept development, research, content creation, and design.
Despite its complexity and duration of one and a half years, I found great satisfaction in navigating challenges and witnessing the project's full realization from its inception. This experience significantly enhanced my skills as both a designer and problem solver.
How Did We Approach The Project?
An exhaustive interpretive plan was developed with a detailed description of how visitors will encounter the Palava story. It identifies planning principles and characteristics, key messages, a thematic framework which outlined proposed exhibits.
Immersive Experience
Threshhold
Experience
Personal Engagement
Engaging
Building Narritives
Engaging
Importance of Chronology
Engaging
Geography and Contextual alignment
The touch-points for designing the visitor's experience at The Palava Experience Center
"Creating meaning and relevance for the visitors in a 4200 sq.ft. space—finding the stories and means of expression that will connect to broader knowledge to create relevance and meaning with our present and future audiences" was what the concept design and the interpretive plan strived to achieve.
What makes a city?
What are the major urban
issues facing us today?
How do we define livability?
What is an Ideal City?
How have cities evolved?
are some of the ideas that we wanted visitors to think about before they learnt more about Palava and how it is a response to some of these important questions.
We Created a Thematic Framework
The visitor experience of the exhibition was designed to be directed and linear. Visitors start at the beginning and progress through the exhibits in order so that they receive all of the key information before reaching the end.
Plan: Palava Experience Center
1000
Some of The Exhibit Designs
The Threshold Experience
As visitors enter the Pavilion they encounter several exhibits that intrigue, excite and capture their imagination, getting them to start thinking about some of the big questions and themes they encounter in the rest of the exhibition.
Thinking about Cities:
The first half of this experience is a visually exciting entrance exhibit with large and striking photographs and maps, and textual information such as trivia, quotations and statistics conveyed in diverse and technologically interesting and surprising ways—on the walls, floor, ceiling and suspended in space. A combination of static and multimedia devices are used to
communicate short but poignant pieces of information to visitors, for example quotations from famous thinkers on cities and thought-provoking statistics about cities, livability indices etc. in India and globally.
Evolution of Cities:
The second half of this experience is a
large-scale graphic timeline which provides visitors with an overview of key moments in the evolution of cities and situates
Palava within this history. The timeline has minimal text and uses large images of cities along with brief facts.
It starts from the first known settlement Jericho and the comes to the present day Mumbai and why Mumbai is in a desperate need for another large city like settlement.
Entrance exhibit with large and striking photographs, maps and textual information conveyed in diverse and technologically interesting and surprising ways—on the walls, floor, ceiling and suspended in space
Entrance exhibit with large and striking photographs, maps and textual information conveyed in diverse and technologically interesting and surprising ways—on the walls, floor, ceiling and suspended in space
Day in the Life at Palava
A simple multimedia presentation using short videos and audio take visitors through one day in the life of a resident of Palava. Four different stories follow each family member of the household through their day—the father, mother, child, and grandfather. Four sets of soundproof pods with smart card readers and touch screens were used to create a feel of private enclosure were used for this exhibit.
Use of Smart Cards and Real Time Data
Smart cards are used throughout the exhibition, recording visitor insights, preferences and suggestions. These are finally collated and displayed near the exit experience. The data thus gathered is also used in formulation of city policies and if possible even in the planning and design of the city. The exit experience compiles all these preferences along with a photograph of the visitor. The visitor is sent an email with a pre-designed brochure updated with his answers, suggestions, popular feedback, his photograph as the Palava exhibition takeaway.
A hands-on interactive station to appeal to young visitors, and the young at heart! A large graphic on the floor demarcates this activity space, with roads, railway lines, green space, and water outlined. On top of this are large 3D blocks and other simple materials that visitors can use to actually “build” a city with their own hands.
A four layered lenticular graphic marks the transition into the Palava city exhibits. The lenticular displays the transition of Palava site from barren land into a city full of people, cars, homes and kids playing in the parks.
Soundproof pods playing different Day in The Life Of videos.
Photo Op and Exit Experience
The Interactive Map
This is the “wow” experience of the exhibition. The Interactive Map at the exhibition offers a captivating experience, employing projection mapping, directional speakers, and multitouch screens.
Visitors explore Palava's layout and components, selecting specific interests like transportation features to highlight relevant information such as roads, parking, trails, and rail lines. This personalized approach empowers visitors to learn about Palava according to their preferences, avoiding information overload.
The Projection Mapped Palava Model : Video Credits: Studio XYZ, Technology Partners
The Outdoor Experience
The overall concept was not just to design the exhibition but also create an experience as soon as the visitor enters the premise. An exhaustive landscape and exterior design scheme was designed which provided for a crisp and seamless transition from the outdoor to the indoors.
The exterior scheme provided for a registration desk, a valet kiosk, outdoor exhibits, ample seating area along with landscape design which even tried to replicate the palette and textures of the exhibits and the indoor space.
Natural and raw finishes and textures were used to create an ambience of earthiness and compliment some of the polished and industrial materials used inside the exhibition.
Plan: Landscaping and Outdoor Exhibits
Landscaping and Outdoor Structures
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