Exploring History Through Technology

Bangkok’s Museum of Siam creates an experience where visitors could understand the how the identity of Thai people, their customs, beliefs and civilizations has developed over millennia of continuous habitation in the region. Employing various interactive techniques, the Museum engages the visitors to investigate, play games, interact and discover the history and story of Thailand.

Led by the creative direction of Story! Inc and Pico Thailand, with designLAB MISC directing the project from the structure, graphic, visitor experience and interactive concepts, Aesthetec was contracted to be involved with almost every stage of the design development. By being able to provide insight for interaction scenarios while concepts were still being developed, the interaction design and technology weaves seamlessly with the narratives.

Aesthetec designed, produced, and installed over 28 interactive exhibits in the 20-room museum. We created a wireless management system, customized hardware and software to run these exhibits entirely on the Mac OSX. To stand up to the constant use of the Museum’s thousands of daily visitors, contact-less positioning and touch-sensitive buttons are installed wherever possible. Most of our customized hardware is modularized, swappable, and easy to configure and replace. Additionally, all screen-based features of the museum are specifically designed for high-definition video, ensuring that the content would look as good as the technology allows.

Working with the interior architects and content designers to build this museum from the ground up, we were able to integrate appropriate technology into the interaction design at a very early stage—rather than retro-fitting pre existing concepts with technology later on—an approach which made the interactive exhibits flow seamlessly with the content, and became an integral part of the museum.