The Children’s Museum of Denver “Tree of Life” exhibit featuring Planar Simplicity LED-lit LCD displays, Chief ceiling mounts, Apple Mac Minis and Crestron RMC3 3-Series home controls is the winner of CTA/CE Pro 2017 Mark of Excellence Awards Specialty Project of the Year. See the full list of winners here and stay tuned on Commercial Integrator for more individual stories of the Specialty Project of the Year runners-up.
In an effort to expand the Children’s Museum of Denver, the most crowded children’s museum in the country, the museum looked to add on two new wings with a climbing tower, art studio, teaching kitchen, water and energy exhibits, plus a new entrance and a 30,000 square foot outdoor adventure park. The whole museum is based on the idea of “sophisticated whimsy,” where children and adults learn through play.
To help foster this expansion, Logic Integration designed a 20-foot tall, abstract copper and steel tree-like structure that included the following:
- 30 46-inch Planar Simplicity LED-lit LCD displays, forming a canopy.
- Mac mini attached to back of each display, linked to a Mac mini server in the cabinet at the trunk via IP network
- Chief ceiling mounts, Panamax power used as part of design
- Trunk of tree includes a digital camera, another Planar display that shows visitors’ image; timer counts down to taking picture
The tree is equipped with 30 hanging displays that feature pictures children take of themselves at the base of the tree. A display at the base of the tree allows the children and families to see their faces while taking a picture. The portrait then progresses through the “tree” displays one by one as new photos are taken. [related]
The Children’s Museum required that the system be serviceable remotely and have the ability to be self contained (auto erasing the space of the folder on the hard drive as pictures get older). The system also needed to be safe and reliable 18 hours per day/7 days per week.
To meet these requirements, the computers and control system are hidden away behind the actual screens, accessible remotely for admin and updates. Logic Integration ran the wires to all the displays inside the copper pipes from the picture station all the way up to the displays. This created a seamless installation with zero wires exposed to the end user.
In order to ensure the displays remained functioning, Logic Integration chose 46-inch Planar Simplicity Series SL4650 LED-lit LCD displays, which are built for 24/7 operations.
To control the images being displayed, a Mac mini is attached to the back of each display, then linked to a Mac mini server in the cabinet at the trunk via an IP network. For the camera, Logic used an off-the-shelf webcam plus a standard Macintosh application, Apple Photo Booth, to control it.
The “Tree of Life” is now one of the most popular attractions at the Children’s Museum of Denver, with thousands of visitors and photos created.
Logic Integration designed a 20-foot tall, abstract copper and steel tree-like structure for the Denver Children’s Museum. See more photos.
Equipment List
Home Controls
(30) Apple Mac Mini, (1) Crestron RMC3 3-Series
Flat Panel Displays
(30) 46- inch Planar Simplicity Series SL4650
Remote Controls
Apple Mac Mini, iPad, Crestron Control, and Logitech Web Camera
AV Furniture
Custom Made picture station by Logic Integration
Other
(30) Chief RPMA1 RPA, (8) Panamax VT-EXT 8