Future Energy Chicago
Museum of Science and Industry
What we did
Concept, Visual and Motion Design
Interactive Prototyping
Software Development
Project Intro
The concept of energy is a difficult one to explain: energy is invisible, omnipresent, and complex. Today, most people understand energy through their individual consumption habits: we know to turn off the lights, to recycle, to take public transportation. But what if we could understand energy on an aggregate level, and make informed decisions that transform the cars we drive, the homes we inhabit, and even the city we live in?
Design Approach
We developed five custom interactive stations where visitors compete as teams, while working together to improve the room’s aggregate score. Each station highlights a different class of energy use: from car, home, and neighborhood to major infrastructure systems of transportation networks and the city’s power sources. By working together, teams make informed decisions to trigger effective, far-reaching changes for their environment.
User Experience
For example, by becoming transportation engineers, visitors design transit hubs and public transportation options, resulting in less energy spent by cars. By becoming urban planners, visitors stack apartments on top of schools on top of storefronts, creating more efficient, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. In taking on these personas, visitors become empowered by their understanding of energy, and inspired to be thoughtful citizens, consumers, and the next generation of energy innovators, designers, and inventors.
