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Digital signage brings 9/11 to life at National September 11 Memorial and Museum
Projection mapping, video displays and touchscreens commemorate the lives lost in the 9/11 terror attacks and engage visitors to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
September 4, 2014 by Christopher Hall — w, t
The 13th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., looms in the horizon just a week away.
This year, though, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is open to commemorate the day and to remember its victims — and digital signage technology plays a vital role in bringing that day and its aftermath into the present in an incredibly immediate and visceral way.
Projection mapping technology displays video from the cleanup crews working in the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers, on a twisted and broken of remnant of one of the towers.
There is a digital signage display showing footage of the second plane flying into the South Tower, and displays showing pictures of the dead along with recordings of their friends and loved ones talking about them.
Another projection shows a timeline of all the stories written about the attacks, while yet another shows quotes from people about the events of that day.
And those are just a sampling.
The museum, which opened to the public on May 21, also features The Last Column" — the last and only standing column found in the rubble of the towers that now stands in the center of the museum's Foundation Hall. A touchscreen display tells the stories behind all the markings and messages on the column.
And more touchscreen displays allow visitors to leave their own remembrances, flanking a twisted steel beam laid out lengthwise.
And in "Reflecting on 9/11," visitors can answer questions in one of the three audio/video recording booths, after which their answers are edited and projected onto a digital projection screen.
Yahoo! Tech recently talked with the head of museum design firm Local Projects, Jake Barton, whose team worked on the 9/11 museum and its technology for nearly a decade, "conceptualizing and engineering more than 90 multimedia installations."
Watch the interview below:
