Redesigning history
MAGELLAN STRAIT IS A FAMED PASSAGE RIDDLED WITH STORIES, MYTH AND MYSTERY. IT WAS TTIME TO TRANSFORM AN OLD ATTRACTION INTO AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE.
Exhibition Design, Production Design
CLIENT: PARQUE DEL ESTRECHO
Fuerte Bulnes is a Historical Monument located on the shores of Magellan Strait. This passage is one of the most significant locations in recent history as Magellan's expedition and discoveries would forever change our world and is key in Chilean presence in Patagonia.
How do you even begin telling this story?
With a USD 4.5M investment in infrastructure and exhibition design, this project aimed to create an immersive cultural and historical experience in a 1,400-square-meter exhibition space in Chilean Patagonia (aka, home). In its first year, it generated an estimated USD 600K in revenue (2016), making it one of the most successful museum/exhibitions experiences in the region.
As Lead Designer, I was responsible for the visual identity, storytelling, and exhibition design. Working closely with renowned artist Daniela Kovacic and a broad multidisciplinary team (consisting almost entirely of local artists, designers, and scientists) I helped shape the project in both concept and execution.
My role as Lead designer was a mixture of support and creative lead, as some areas were already underway. Together with Daniela, we worked seamlessly in developing the narrative and copywriting as well as identifying the most crucial historical landmarks that guided the visitor's experience.
Among our many tasks, the most remarkable (and challenging) were:
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Dressing the main hall's curved ceiling
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Designing and manufacturing a 3-meter wide metal astrolable
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Designing and installing a ocean floor mapping of the Strait
This project was an opportunity to create a deeply immersive and site-specific exhibition, while embracing innovative storytelling and design solutions.
Ceiling
This map by Andreas Cellarius depicts the constellations belonging to the Southern hemisphere. It was designed to provide an immersive welcome ambient and to serve as an introduction to the show.
The map was printed across 72 sintra planks, each measuring 120x240 cms and attached with velcro (yes!) to aluminum beams that shape this vault.
Before securing them in their final position, we drilled, installed and connected over 1500 LEDs -by hand- which make the artwork truly come to life.
Astrolabe
Astrolabes were the most advanced navigational tool when the Straits were discovered. To further enhance the visitor's immersion into a story of exploration, it was decided that a large astrolabe would be placed underneath the curved ceiling.
This piece, measuring over 3 metres at its widest, sits right under the ceiling's vaulted curve and and was modeled after an 18th century image.
With no previous experience in industrial design, I traced this drawing and, together with the builders, manufactured the supporting structure which resulted in a striking design piece that rotates and moves efforlessly.
Bathymetry
This underwater terrain map focuses on the Southernmost tip of the American continent and Tierra del Fuego island. Consisting of 8 extruded layers, it shows the ocean’s depth and prrovides a radical way of understanding the region's topography by showing the deep canyons that make this passage a treachrous onoe.
Thse layers were taken from staellite imagery and then translated to a vector-friendly software to produce millimiter-perfect CNC pieces. Each layer was then bolted into a concrete wall and graphics were applied to the final layer, telling the story of continental landmasses and their effect on geography and wildlife.
CREDITS
Project Lead/Creative Director
Architecture Consultant
DANIELA KOVACIC
PABLO QUERCIA