Science Centres • Science & Technology

Smart Nation Playscape

Client

Location

Completed

Science Centre Singapore

Singapore

2021

The Process

We were engaged by Singapore government agencies SNDGO and GovTech, along with Science Centre Singapore, to create this exhibition showcase Smart Nation — a series of Singapore government initiatives aimed at transforming the way the nation will meet the challenges and opportunities of new digital technologies. Smart Nation Playscape is about engaging young Singaporeans and raising their awareness, comfort levels, and ability to adopt those technologies in their daily lives.

As visitor experience developers, we worked with our client group to develop a strong understanding of Smart Nation. Our role, as always was to see things from the point of view of the ordinary visitor, rather than that of the policy or technical expert, to make sure that the exhibition spoke directly to the core target audience – teenage Singaporeans.

Image credit Science Centre Singapore

Image credit Science Centre Signapore

The Result

The exhibition is highly interactive. As visitors explore and play, they learn about the principles behind the showcased tech. Video and graphic explanations support the interactives, teaching visitors about how the technology is relevant and useful in their everyday lives.

Standout features of the exhibition include:

A huge LED “data cloud” mounted on the ceiling at the centre of the room, which pulses with different coloured lights and acts as the visual focus of the exhibition.
Interactive games that allow visitors to teach a robot to dance, compete to have an AI guess what they have drawn, design a smart city, or explore a pyramid with VR.
Motion activated cameras that capture stylised silhouettes of visitors to entice them to enter the exhibition.
A modern take on a “Cabinet of Curiosities” in the centre of the exhibition that provides a quirky, object-centric way for visitors to experience some surprising aspects of technology.
Enrolment kiosks that allow visitors to register for a Smart Nations passport, providing them with an individualised experience and take-home digital souvenirs of their visit.

The result is a visitor experience that gives an intuitive overall sense of what Smart Nation is all about; helps them understand its importance for Singapore and for their own lives; and conveys just how far-reaching the impacts of these new technologies will be. Most importantly, it gives visitors a sense of wonder and fun about this vision of the future, and offers them the chance to start engaging with it now.