For my master’s thesis project, I collaborated with the Natural History Museum of Denmark to design a captivating and multi-sensory immersive room, intended to transport visitors into the world of Denmark’s nocturnal fauna.

This unique exhibit is designed especially for families, offering a playful and interactive way to engage in meaningful exploration, where hand-held torches bring digital and physical worlds to life, immersing visitors in the sensory experiences of nocturnal animals.

Challenge

The Natural History Museum of Denmark’s commitment to constructing a new building provided a unique opportunity, and also brought the challenge of reimagining traditional museum experiences in an age of rapid digital transformation.

I wanted to bring the multisensory nightscape into the museum in a playful and accessible way for families, to help them engage in meaning-making and discover the senses that nocturnal animals use, while all the time anticipating the ever-evolving digital landscape, ensuring that the exhibit would remain relevant and captivating in the face of future technological advancements.

What I did

I conducted user research with observations, surveys, interviews and contextual inquiry as a means to explore the situation. After synthesising my findings using affinity diagramming and defining the objectives, I developed a concept by doing a brainstorming workshop, bodystorming and a stakeholder workshop.

Finally, after lots of sketches, storyboards and mock-ups, I built a prototype of the exhibition room and tested it with families in the museum using the experience prototyping method.

How it works

In this exhibit, darkness transforms into an opportunity to discover the world in a different way. I designed interactive elements to allow children and adults to participate actively. From touch-friendly animals to engaging audiovisual installations, every aspect of the room was imagined with accessibility and playfulness in mind.

Visitors can explore how nocturnal animals perceive the world. From the keen hearing of owls to the sensitive olfaction of foxes, I recreated these sensory experiences in a way that’s easy to understand and enjoy.

At the heart of this innovative experience is the use of handheld torches, which become magical tools for interaction and discovery. When visitors shine the torch on the animals, they come to life through a symphony of sensory experiences. This dynamic interaction creates a sense of wonder and connection, blurring the lines between the digital and the physical environment. As visitors move through the room, the torch becomes a storyteller, revealing the hidden lives of these creatures and their sensory adaptations.

Many thanks to Christoffer Muusmann and Jens Astrup from the Natural History Museum of Denmark for their collaboration.