Environmental Museum

An open eye on the world to discover how to interact with and preserve the environment

WASTE AREA

The waste area is divided into four main exibits.

1 – Four monitors welcome the visitor by scrolling images representing the cyclical nature of phenomena in which waste is not accumulated but everything is reused for new processes.

2- An Interactive Showcase encloses five everyday objects (a coffee pot, a parquet tile, a porcelain tile, a paper bag, and a fleece sweatshirt) and provides insight into how they can be obtained by recycling materials.

3-From Earth to Earth consists of two monitors. The first is entirely touchscreen, allowing people to learn with gamification elements by playing what the correct elements are and how they should be used to create compost; the second allows them to see what happens inside a compost bin, from collecting the elements, to maintaining the internal moisture of the compost to the final formation of compost.

4- Electronic waste: by touching the item of interest (smartphone, computer, etc.), it is possible to know how many rare and harmful elements are contained within it thanks to a video.

POWER SUPPLY AREA

The nutrition area has six main points:

1 – As the visitor arrives, three characters initiate a dialogue on the future of food: each character embodies a different way of approaching the topic, with the goal of raising awareness of the world’s nutrition problem.

2 – Continuing the visit, one encounters a chemist’s table, on which two touch monitors make it possible to play with the main molecules that underlie our lives to better understand the importance of proper nutrition.

3 – In the interactive kitchen, it is possible to interact with a touch screen monitor inside which a cook shows the visitor the ingredients to be used to create a chosen recipe and tells what happens from the physical-chemical point of view in the various stages of preparation.

4 – On the large dining table, images of dishes representing different cultures scroll by. The visitor is here invited to “drag” the plate of interest over their placemat to learn more about a particular people.

5 – The large refrigerator invites visitors to think about the value of food and how to avoid wasting it, thanks to the interactive games offered by the monitor inside.

6 – Two particular exhibits are included at the end of the course, “A World of Knowledge” and “We Are All Scientists.” In the first, a large table displays a planisphere, on which a film can be viewed that recounts a particular event that occurred within it touching on one of the 4 continents. The goal is to highlight how knowledge of the world is an important tool for achieving true democracy. In the second, a touch monitor provides access to games and experiments whose goal is to bring out the scientist within each visitor.

ENERGY AREA

At the entrance to the area is the imposing Energy Wall:a graphed and backlit wall, about 12 meters long, that tells the story of the relationship between man and energy. The interactive Wall proposes that visitors lift a scenic rock, visualizing in real time how much energy is produced in the performance of the effort, to introduce the first form of energy: that produced by man’s muscles. Other interactive stages are embedded in the wall thanks to the touchscreen displays contained therein, which activate audio-visual content corresponding to the story illustrated on the wall.Other interactive content can be activated by placing a few “sensitive postcards” on the columns adjacent to the display, resulting in audio-visual insights into current and future renewable energy.

Continuing the visit, one encounters the Energy Bar, which, by playing with simple physical and chemical experiments, allows visitors to prepare energy-based “cocktails.” The bar counter, consisting of 5 displays, provides the necessary instructions for the visitor to carry out the experiments in complete autonomy.

Completing the section is a thunderbolt-shaped platform that allows visitors to ideally travel through energy distribution networks to understand how they are organized today and how they might be tomorrow. The Energy area is entirely powered by a photovoltaic panel on the roof, connected to an energy storage unit mounted on a graphic panel on the wall.

WATER AREA

The three new exhibits integrated into the water area are highly immersive and interactive.

1- The first one, called the Abyss Elevator, reproduces an emotional journey into the depths of our planet, from the surface of the seas to the abysses of the oceans. Inside, a push-button panel allows visitors to choose the depth to which they will descend.

2 – The second exhibit involves a large touchscreen display by which the visitor accesses 4 games concerning human interventions in the water cycle.

3 – The theme developed by the third exhibit isThe Life in a Drop of Water:on a table, which abstractly reconstructs the surface of water, two microscopes are placed for the observation of insect samples, in glass slides and in small plexiglass boxes. Two displays embedded in the plan, guide the visitor to the use of the microscope and allow for some in-depth information about the observed samples. Both microscopes are connected to a camera, connected in turn, to a larger display located across the room so it can be used for lessons with schoolchildren. There is also a biosphere on the floor.