Connected Sky / Cielo conectado
“Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” is a groundbreaking, technically ambitious interactive installation that unites two museums in two countries—La Nube STEAM Discovery Center in
El Paso and La Rodadora Children’s Museum in Juárez, Mexico—in real time. This first-of-its kind endeavor fosters cross-border collaboration through play, as visitors on both sides
become active participants, their images woven into a shared digital canvas. Simple gestures ignite a vibrant, playful exchange that surpasses language barriers, cultivating crosscultural connection. “Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” reimagines the museum experience, demonstrating the power of design, technology, and play to build bridges between communities where borders divide.
Agency
Gyroscope Inc, Design I/O
Practice Area
Client
La Nube STEAM Discovery Center
Industry
The Challenge
The unique design of the “Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” exhibit addressed several key challenges. Visually connecting two museums across international borders required a unique and impactful solution. The exhibit needed to offer a fun, yet reasonably short, experience suitable for its lobby location. Simplicity and open-ended interaction were paramount, ensuring easy entry and exit points for participants. Crucially, the design had to accommodate numerous visitors simultaneously, eliminating the need for waiting. Finally, the play experience needed to be immediately intuitive, encouraging spontaneous engagement.
Project Vision
The city of El Paso, situated on the border with Juárez, faces the complex reality of families separated by an increasingly difficult-to-cross divide. La Nube’s core themes—sustainability, regional identity, and “Blue Sky Learning”—find powerful resonance in this context. The sky, a universal constant, connects us all, embodying limitless potential and the boundless power of imagination—a “Blue Sky” where anything is possible. Inspired by this unifying expanse, the design team created a digital interactive where visitors from both sides of the border come together to play in a shared digital sky, reinforcing the message of unity and interconnectedness.
Matt Kocourek
Matt Kocourek
Design + Execution
Set against a vibrant blue sky, “Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” invites visitors in both museums to engage in a series of whimsical, day-and-night scenes. Inspired by the universal language of play, the design leverages the ease with which children create games, encouraging intuitive interaction and joyful collaboration. The attract mode features a central balloon that begins to slowly drift down igniting the instinct to “save it from the floor!” Reminiscent of a party game, multiple visitors work together to keep the balloon afloat, hidden surprises are revealed, drawing them deeper into the shared digital world.
From co-creating constellations and launching virtual fireworks to sculpting clouds with their hands and bodies, participants engage in a series of collaborative, non-verbal activities designed for all ages and abilities. The more people participate and the more they collaborate, the more spectacular the experience becomes, encouraging visitors to look past the technology and become immersed in the joy of shared play.
“Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” uses the latest in cutting edge AI to seamlessly rotoscope (cut out) the visitors from a live 4K video feed, track their movements and gestures and then place them into the dynamically rendered world shown on a 30-foot wide 8K video wall in each museum lobby. A dedicated fiber optic line runs between the two museums, allowing for the two video feeds to be seamlessly integrated into a single space, with minimal latency, creating the effect that visitors in both museums are standing and playing together side by side. With layers of interaction to discover, “Connected Sky/Cielo conectado” provides a truly unique and engaging cross-border experience where visitors can forge new friendships and strengthen existing bonds through the power of shared play.
Matt Kocourek
Matt Kocourek
Matt Kocourek
Matt Kocourek
Matt Kocourek
Project Details
Design Team
Maeryta Medrano, AIA (Gyroscope, principal-in-charge)
Tim Phillips (Gyroscope, creative director)
Theo Watson (Design I/O, creative director)
Emily Gobeille (Design I/O, creative director)
Nick Hardeman (Design I/O, developer)
Photo Credits
Photos courtesy of La Nube STEAM Discovery Center
Photos courtesy of La Rodadora
Open Date
August 2024