Editor’s Note: Here, Commercial Integrator’s editors highlight one of our 2026 Integration Award-winning projects. Electrosonic’s work at the National WWI Museum and Memorial earned top honors in the Best Museum AV category. Read on to learn why our judges deemed this project the most impressive Museum project of the year!
Everything You Need to Know About the National WWI Museum and Memorial
- The museum was created in 1919 with the help of Liberty Memorial Association and local citizens of Kansas City, Miss.
- The museum upgrade was spearheaded by Electrosonic in collaboration with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, AV Stumpfl/ PIXERA, Christie, Dot Crew, HOLOPLOT, ISAAC, JE Dunn, Nanolumens, Smart Monkeys and Technical Artistry.
In 1919, the Liberty Memorial Association and local citizens raised over $2.5 million in just 10 days, creating the National WWI Museum and Memorial dedicated to remembering, interpreting and understanding the Great War and its enduring impact on the global community. Almost two decades later, while still one of the world’s great museums, the Museum needed an upgrade and enlisted the original project team to lead its evolution.
What is the New Encounters Exhibit at the National WWI Museum and Memorial?
The result of the upgrade at the National WWI Museum and Memorial is Encounters, an exhibit that gives a voice to the ordinary people who lived through WWI history, embodied by actors who share their stories.
Here, visitors don’t just read about the war, they actually meet those who lived it. For example, a schoolboy in England describes the German Zeppelin ‘Baby killers’ landing in flames near his house. A Black soldier fighting in France shares his pride at being among the first American troops sent into the enemy territory in Alsace-Lorraine.
A woman who served as a munition worker, a German U Boat captain, a colonial Cavalry soldier on the Western Front, also feature in the collection of 16 stories from real people who were impacted by the Great War.
Through immersive audiovisual technology and handcrafted digital media, these voices feel heartbreakingly present. It offers visitors insights to the impact that war had on people from different nations and different walks of life, delivering an experience that stays with visitors long after they leave.
This work was guided by a strategic plan that prioritized the creation of a richer and more immersive visitor experience by refreshing and expanding the galleries and access to the Museum and Memorial’s collection.
What was Electrosonic’s Role in the Museum Upgrade?
The technological update needed to enhance the visitor experience while continuing the National WWI Museum and Memorial’s legacy of providing world-class exhibitions and educational programs that engage multigenerational audiences. The Museum required a partner that they trusted as an expert in audiovisual technology and a company that could offer solutions that transformed a vision into experience.
Electrosonic brought this to the table with its extensive background designing and implementing technology solutions for immersive audiovisual exhibits. The Museum’s 20-year partnership with Electrosonic enabled fluid communication, innovative solutions and a successful project outcome.
Electrosonic worked with the project team to design, engineer and integrate innovative cutting-edge audiovisual and acoustic technologies.
What Was the Biggest Challenge for Electrosonic?
The biggest challenge for Electrosonic went into balancing the Museum’s vision for the integration of new technology with existing structures to create a new experience while preserving historical authenticity. Additionally, these upgrades were completed with the Museum remaining open to visitors throughout the entire renovation.
By joining forces with Ralph Appelbaum Associates, AV Stumpfl/ PIXERA, Christie, Dot Crew, HOLOPLOT, ISAAC, JE Dunn, Nanolumens, Smart Monkeys and Technical Artistry, Electrosonic helped deliver an experience unlike any other. Close communication and on-site fabrication were the contributing factors to the project’s completion.
The partnership fostered efficient communication among all parties, ensuring a consistent, seamless approach from start to finish in delivering this world-class museum.
The National WWI Museum and Memorial’s advanced AV technology allows guests to step directly into the stories of the war, interpreting the history and encourages thought and empathy for those who experienced the conflict.
What are the Unique Features of the Encounters Exhibit?
Encounters is a historically authentic exhibit that uses immersive technology to bring the Great War out of the past. Guests experience 16 unique stories within 4 alcoves, allowing them to hear unique perspectives, including combat soldiers, women munitions workers, colonial soldiers, a child, a dissenter and more.
Photo courtesy of Electrosonic / Ricardo Santiago
Produced by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with DOT CREW using source material from diaries, letters, films and photographs, the individuals portrayed by actors on screen are as accurate as possible. Sensor technology triggers an interactive experience that brings the guest face-to-face with one of 16 individuals. As the visitor approaches a screen, active LED light strips create silhouettes circling the room.
Once a story begins, Christie projectors cast a shadow on the floor, transforming a 2D Nanolumens LED screen into a 3D portal, making it feel as if visitors are looking through the window of history.
Using a HOLOPLOT sound system, also used at the Sphere, Encounters creates a soundscape in each alcove that surrounds guests and further immerses them in the story. This allows all alcoves to be running at the same time without disrupting other visitors’ experience.
Additional Upgrades at the Museum
Along with Encounters, the Museum underwent a comprehensive technology renewal that enhances storytelling through the galleries.
From the immersive Kemper Horizons Theater to the multisensory Battlescapes experience, advanced audiovisual technology, projection and spatial audio places visitors at the heart of WWI while transforming historical interpretation into a deeply engaging experience that leaves a lasting impact on every visitor.
Chris Wyche, VP for facilities, public safety and technology, National WWI Museum and Memorial, attests to the success of the exhibit, stating, “This has always been a world class museum but technology changes, we’re always looking for that happy medium between using technology to help enhance our storytelling while not letting it overpower the objects and history itself. Electrosonic made that happen by making the museum more immersive through bringing in the technology that made it possible for people to come in and experience the war in a brand-new way.”
“Visitors are surrounded by history and gaining a deeper understanding of the people whose lives were forever changed by the First World War,” concludes Wyche.
