H2Now Orlando Science Center

IDEAS was tasked by the Orlando Science Center to design and build an exhibit experience exploring hydrogen as an alternate energy source. The exhibit’s premise considered the potential for hydrogen as the basis for a new energy economy better suited to the ecological health of the planet. After holding a StoryJam™ workshop with OSC staff and subject matter experts, IDEAS developed H2NOW: The 2007 Hydrogen X-change.

The exhibit imagined hydrogen as a viable energy source, not as a far-off vision of the future, but something that is easily within reach. Targeting teens and young adults who want a better alternative to fossil fuels, the exhibit tackled the unfulfilled promises about replacing carbon-based sources of energy and demonstrated how hydrogen as a fuel source really works.

H2NOW featured interactive kiosks, each with a different hydrogen trivia game, where visitors could earn energy units by answering questions correctly. These energy units were transferred using clear acrylic cylinders with RFID chips embedded in the base allowing guests to transport their earned energy credits to the Hydropolis cityscape. This circular, miniature metropolitan environment, 15ft in diameter, included landmarks and infrastructure that could be powered by hydrogen fuel sources. Visitors could choose which elements of Hydropolis they wanted to activate using the energy credits they earned at the kiosks.

Actuators built into the Hydropolis model employed, lighting, sound, and kinetic effects to bring the large urban model to life. Guests could power a traffic control system, illuminate a city block, raise a bridge, power the big game at the stadium, activate the mass transit system, or turn a large observation wheel, along with several other hydrogen-features. On the outskirts of Hydropolis, a mag-lev train circled the entire urban cityscape and providing constant movement and energy.