The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is an educational and historical institution honouring victims of both the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 1993 bombing, while examining 9/11 and its continued global significance. The museum building was designed by Davis Brody Bond, LLP with exhibit designs by Thinc Design and Layman Design. It is accessed by an entry pavilion designed by Snohetta.
Bob Haroutunian of PPI Consulting was the audio-visual systems designer for the museum and education center. Arup was the designer for the Pavilion Auditorium. The majority of the content was provided by Local Projects, with additional content provided by Infusion and Project Rebirth.
"This was a very large museum project located several stories underground, which made it a bit of a logistical challenge," says Electrosonic project manager Jackson Benedict. "The site is spread out over nearly eight acres, so just getting from one side to the other took a long time." The project spanned several years so Electrosonic had to stay on top of evolving technology and equipment advances as equipment was specified and installed.
Electrosonic created full-scale mock ups of about 70 percent of the exhibits at some point in time. "We did a lot of testing with Design & Production near Washington, D.C., Hadley Exhibits in Buffalo and our own facility in Burbank," adds Electrosonic account executive Bryan Abelowitz.
Electrosonic supplied a traditional museum system for the exhibition space where approximately 100 media experiences are available for visitors. These range from touch screen interactives, small theaters and displays playing media to recording booths that enable visitors to record their own 9/11 stories.
Several exhibits required especially complex media systems. The first exhibition visitors see as they enter the galleries is We Remember, which features recollections of people around the world as September 11, 2001, dawned. Six large, vertical screens are staggered down a 60ft ramp; a portion of a world map is projected on each of the six screens, such that, at the top of the ramp it appears to be one cohesive map. Digital Projection projectors with mirror mounts display the content, while 16 ceiling-mounted Atlas speakers recount, in multiple languages, where people were on that fateful day.
Since the Last Column, a 36-foot steel piece from the Twin Towers, is so tall, two 55-inch ELO touch screens run Local Projects' interactive software, allowing visitors to scroll up and down its full length to see high-resolution details of the signatures and mementoes on its sides.
Eight interactive tables in the memorial exhibition enable visitors to scroll through the Wall of Faces or search for loved ones and access biographies and family photos. 3M supplied the touch screens, Dell the computers and Local Projects the software to operate this especially impactful exhibit.
Electrosonic also provided a full AV system for the multi-purpose Pavilion auditorium, an approximately 150-seat theater used to show videos throughout the day and available for hosting events from standard presentations to video conferences.
Key equipment components in the museum include Sharp, Christie and Digital Projection projectors, Alcorn McBride audio playback, Vista Group SoundStik audio stations, Dataton WATCHOUT display and playback, Adtec signage players, Boland, Sharp and Samsung LCD displays, Extron extenders and Medialon system control.
Electrosonic is providing two on-site technicians to help keep the museum's exhibits in good order.
(Jim Evans)
