WHAT: This Thursday, HMNS is giving media a first look inside the new permanent exhibition hall dubbed “Wiess Energy Hall 3.0.” The third iteration of this popular hall has enlarged from its previous 8,500 square feet to an expansive 30,000 square feet—almost the size of a football field. Joining the completely redesigned “classic” displays is a bonanza of entirely new exhibits, making the new hall the most contemporary, comprehensive, and technologically advanced exhibition on the science and technology of energy anywhere in the world. Opening Nov. 20, 2017.
Step off of the elevator into a convincingly realistic environment depicting the dynamic floor of a working, 21st century offshore drilling rig populated by a motley crew of sci-fi robots—an automated “top-drive” mechanism, pipe racker, and “iron roughneck.”
Then, a look at “Energy City,” a 2,500-square-foot 3-D landscape representing Houston, the surrounding Gulf coastal waters, and the terrain of southeast and central Texas. This vibrant 1/150th-scale “white model” uses bleeding-edge projection mapping technology to bring to life the energy value chain with dynamic animation as the entire tableau cycles from day tonight. Highlights include drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale, oil refining, trainloads of oil and coal, liquefied natural gas terminals, nuclear plants, wind farms, power plants, solar thermal energy, along with a gleaming city skyline, sprawling suburbs, and streaming freeways.
Adjacent to “Energy City”, the mammoth presence of the Eagle Ford Shale Experience, a.k.a. the “EFX 3000.”Step aboard for a wild ride out to prime Texas shale oil and gas drilling country and down into the borehole of an oil well, made real with curved projection techniques and mechanical motion effects. Reduced to microscopic size, the craft ventures into the narrow spaces of a hydraulic micro-fracture, surrounded by seemingly massive grains of proppant. Things may get a little dodgy for a bit, but the EFX makes a safe return to the museum!
Not far away, the completely reinvented Geovator, now hosted by a holographic pilot, takes you on a reimagined fantastic voyage plunging down through the museum floors into the earth, then back in time to the Cretaceous Period for an attack by hungry pteranodons and a meteor strike, and finally a tumultuous ascent to the surface for a surprising conclusion.
Click here for fascinating facts about “Energy City,” the Geovator and EFX.
WHO: Opening Remarks: Joel Bartsch, President of HMNS
Introduction of Wiess 3.0: Paul Bernhard, Wiess 3.0 Content Lead & Principal Partner of Paul Bernhard Exhibit Design & Consulting
Additional Media Spokesperson Available: Dustin Newcomb, Wiess 3.0 Project Manager of Paul Bernhard Exhibit Design & Consulting
WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 5, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, 77030
HOW: Contact Melodie Wade at (713) 639-4743 or cell: (832) 498-4265 or Latha Thomas at (713) 639-4624 or cell: (713) 256-3299, or come to Museum Services for assistance.
WHY: In recent years, the science of energy has become even more highly advanced than it already was, as has the exhibition technology available to effectively tell that story. Because of the museum’s commitment to exploring cutting edge science, and enhancing the visitor experience, a greatly expanded version of the Wiess Energy Hall is set to open Nov. 20.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science—one of the nation’s most heavily attended museums—is a centerpiece of the Houston Museum District. With four floors of permanent exhibit halls, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre, Cockrell Butterfly Center, Burke Baker Planetarium, and George Observatory, and as host to world-class and ever-changing touring exhibitions, the Museum has something to delight every age group. With such diverse and extraordinary offerings, a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, located at 5555 Hermann Park Drive in the heart of the Museum District, is always an adventure.
PBE creates museum exhibitions. PBE is a diverse team of designers, content specialists, writers, programmers, engineers, graphic artists, fabricators, technicians, administrators—and other hard-working go-getters, all collaborating to produce a vast variety of projects across a multitude of media. PBE’s work reflects the team’s diversity: whether the task is creating exhibit halls, immersive environments, digital media, or movie sets, PBE realizes a vision that meets the goals of the organizations it serves.
###