An immersive entry experience designed to set the tone for the exhibit

Concept

 

Every exhibit has a beginning.

 

Before visitors encounter the artifacts, the interactives, or the stories, they enter through the Energy Tunnel. Its purpose is simple: create a moment of transition.

 

The experience draws inspiration from the creativity, experimentation, and cultural shifts that helped shape the world leading up to Apple’s founding. Music, technology, design, and innovation were all evolving rapidly, creating an environment where new ideas could thrive.

 

Rather than explaining that history, the tunnel is designed to let visitors feel it.

 

The goal was to create anticipation and establish the mindset that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It emerges from people, ideas, and moments coming together in unexpected ways.

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Experience

 

Visitors enter a fully immersive passageway where animated visuals move across the walls and ceiling, surrounding them with light, motion, music, and color.

 

Unlike a traditional exhibit entrance, there are no artifacts to study or labels to read. The focus is entirely on atmosphere.

 

As visitors move through the space, the visuals create a sense of energy and momentum, building anticipation for what lies ahead.

 

The tunnel serves as a visual and emotional reset, helping visitors leave the outside world behind and preparing them for the stories and experiences that follow throughout the exhibit.

 

The experience lasts only a short time, but it establishes the tone for everything that comes next.

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Execution

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The installation combines projection mapping, synchronized displays, custom animation, and music to create an immersive environment that surrounds visitors from the moment they enter the exhibit.

 

• Input: Custom animated content and synchronized audio

• Processing: Multi-display content distribution and projection mapping

• Output: A unified visual experience spanning multiple display surfaces

• Interaction: Environmental immersion through motion, light, and sound

• Display Network: 3 projectors and 10 synchronized display screens

 

 

The primary challenge was creating a seamless experience across multiple display technologies while maintaining the illusion of a single, continuous visual environment.

 

To accomplish this, a single piece of content was designed in Touch Designer to span all three projectors and ten display screens simultaneously. Rather than treating each display as an independent canvas, the entire system functions as one coordinated visual composition. Animations move fluidly between surfaces, creating continuity throughout the space and encouraging visitors to continue moving forward.

 

Music from the era adds another layer to the experience, helping establish the cultural and creative atmosphere that shaped the world leading up to Apple’s founding. The combination of synchronized visuals and period music transforms the tunnel from a simple entrance into a deliberate transition between the outside world and the exhibit itself.

 

DKS Design led the concept development, experience planning, content direction, display integration, and overall execution of the installation, creating an environment that establishes the exhibit’s tone before visitors encounter their first artifact.