The ground plane maps out the territory as a graphic surface.
In order for online visitors to easily interpret the space, architectural planes are clearly and directly articulated. Universal Design Studio and MAP were challenged to design a space that would be experienced both physically and online through ‘the eyes of the web’. A key feature conceptually, it represents the ‘living lab’ nature of the exhibition, where visitors are not spectators but are engaged in and part of a working space. At the exhibition’s entrance, a centrally positioned glass and wire mesh workshop provides a highly visible ‘curated lab’ space for events, simple repairs and displays.
Universal Design Studio and MAP have created an immersive lab setting in the basement of the Science Museum, a scheme that foregrounds the idea of Web Lab as an interactive place of testing and continuous experimentation.Īn industrial, functional aesthetic forms the backdrop to the series of playful experiments. New archetypes were created to separate users from their familiarity with objects, reinforcing the experimental nature of the exhibition, and to ensure each experiment could be appreciated both in the museum and online. Architecture and design tools help to deconstruct technology and tell the story of how digital and physical realms are connected. The design approach focuses equally on the experience of the space physically and the experience of it online via web cams. Partnering with interactive design and engineering group Tellart, Universal Design Studio and MAP together designed the exhibition environment, creating innovative architectural and design archetypes for this new kind of physical/ digital collaboration. The exhibition at London’s Science Museum is open to the world online at, with online visitors experiencing the exhibition day and night through 24-hour web cams installed at the museum. Exhibition visitors can make music with people across the world and trace the physical route taken by a simple web search. Web Lab brings the extraordinary workings of the Internet to life through a series of interactive, web-connected physical experiments, aiming to inspire the world about the Web’s possibilities and to explain its complex technological processes. Universal Design Studio and sister company MAP are responsible for the 3D design and architecture of a dramatic new Google exhibition. Universal Design Studio and MAP collaborate with Google on exhibition that merges physical and virtual Here's a lengthier description from Universal Design Studio and MAP: Photography is by Lee Mawdsley, apart from where otherwise stated. See all our stories about Universal Design Studio » See all our stories about London Design Festival » It offers new opportunities for richer experiences online and physical spaces that expand beyond the walls of the museum"Ĭameras are positioned around the exhibition, so users can continue to operate the devices when the museum is closed. "Web Lab offers the possibility of making the online experience integral, not secondary. "Museums worldwide struggle with trying to understand how the digital can expand their reach to engage a wider and more diverse audience," said Holley.
Other devices include a virtual teleporter (below), which functions as a set of windows to locations around the world, and a computer that charts the locations of everyone who has taken part in the experiments. The Sketchbots (below) are robots that photograph the faces of users and draws them on a plate of sand. One device is an electronically-controlled orchestra (above), where different instruments are controlled by different users, while another is a data tracer that maps the sources of images and information and shows where they've travelled to (below). "Online and in-museum visitors are equally able to enjoy a dialogue with the museum engaging, interacting and affecting the exhibition content."
"Web Lab offers the opportunity for visitors to be more than just spectators," Universal Design Studio director Jason Holley told Dezeen. The Google Web Lab was created by Google Creative Lab, in partnership with MAP, Universal Design Studio, interactive design and engineering group Tellart, digital agency B-Reel and graphic designers Bibliothéque, and comprises a series of physical devices that can either be operated in person at the museum, or online at. Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have founded MAP as an industrial design consultancy that will operate alongside their architecture interior design company Universal Design Studio and their design studio BarberOsgerby.