09 September 2008

ETC lighting products help Palazzo Las Vegas achieve LEED standard


Thanks in part to ETC lighting products, the Palazzo Las Vegas is not only the newest, tallest and most luxurious hotel and resort complex on the Strip, it is also the greenest. The $1.9 billion, 50-story Palazzo Las Vegas opened in December 2007, located next to its sister property, The Venetian. The largest LEED structure in the world, Palazzo Las Vegas presages a new era of conservation-minded building construction in the area...

Read the full news story here on Lighting & Sound America.

25 July 2008

Digital Dome-Ocracy: Bayley Silleck Enthuses about Fulldome Presentation Media


Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Bayley Silleck (Cosmic Voyage, Wired to Win) delves into the world of fulldome digital immersive presentation and likes what he finds. It's good news for science education - and more. -JR

"I found myself sprawled out on the floor in the pitch-dark. A tall, gangly figure loomed in my field of view. I had a brief flashback to the years I lived in London - could this be Dr. Who, the British television wizard, come to re-ignite my energy
field, rescue me from shape-shifting aliens, or transport me to other worlds?

Despite the flowing mane of Sixties-style hair, the multiple strands of African glass-bead necklaces, and the long silk scarf, this was a new, very modern breed of wizard, whose wand is a mouse and whose lab is a digital dome. It was Carter Emmart,
director of astrovisualization for the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of
Natural History in New York City."

Read the full story in IPM Magazine.

TEA Hosts SATE 08 Conference Sept 18-19 in Orlando


"Through an examination of the basic components of the guest experience - Story, Architecture, Technology, and Experience (SATE) - and how they can be orchestrated to work together for a compelling effect, TEA's second annual SATE Conference on Sept 18-19 in Orlando offers a valuable perspective that members of the international attractions industry can put to use in their own creative efforts," says Larry Tuch, SATE co-chair.

Online registration for the SATE 2008 Conference, in Orlando Sept 18-19, is now open at www.teaconnect.org/sate.htm. The two-day conference, hosted by TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) offers delegates the opportunity to significantly expand what they know about creating guest experiences for guest attractions such as museums, heritage centers, theme parks, retail complexes, resorts, casinos, and corporate visitors centers... [read the full article here]

Inside Chuck Roberts' (BRC) Head: Space Shuttles and Presidential Libraries


A revealing and personal article by a very creative person, Chuck Roberts, who is director of design for BRC Imagination Arts. -JR

Chuck writes...
'I have had the privilege to be involved in the design and production of more than twenty themed experience projects. Once you look at themed entertainment through the eyes of a designer, there is no going back to being a normal visitor. Going to a theme park or museum with family and friends becomes a study in how sensitive, clever and aware other designers have been. The family and friends become lab rats, observed covertly so as not to sway the findings.

At theme parks, I sometimes witness the emotional meltdowns that occur in visiting families. There comes a critical point where the desire to go on one more ride and the idea of waiting in one more line collide like a pair of freight trains. I’ve seen it happen almost anywhere in a park, but usually it occurs in the middle of a large crowded pathway, in the still hot, late afternoon sun. The spectacle slows the surrounding foot traffic like a fender bender on a Los Angeles freeway. People slow to gawk and see a child wailing and trembling, the parent trying to yell and whisper simultaneously, “We can just leave right now. Is that what you want?” I usually side with the kid....' click here to read the full article.

22 April 2008

Shanghai [2010] Surprise: Knute Berger in Crosscut


Journalist Knute Berger has written a very good analysis of the struggle to realize a US Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 Expo. It appears in the 4/22 edition of Seattle-based Crosscut.com:

"It was looking like the U.S. was about to suffer the international embarrassment of not showing up for what many regard as the new China's coming out party. Expo 2010 will be the largest world's fair ever held, with 70 million visitors expected and more than 170 nations participating. The U.S. had pledged to be one of them, but that was starting to seem unlikely.

But this month, the State Department signed a letter of intent with a new group headed by Nick Winslow, former head of Warner Brothers International Recreation Enterprises, and Ellen R. Eliasoph, attorney with the Washington, D.C. white shoe law firm of Covington & Burling."

Click the title link to read the full story. (And thank you, Knute, for quoting me!)

The picture I have included here is of one of the great US pavilions of the past: Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome at Montreal Expo 67. -JR

17 April 2008

Department of State Signs Letter of Intent for World Expo Shanghai 2010

The significance of this announcement is that there's now a good chance the US will have a pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. -JR
---------------------------------------------

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Office of the Spokesman
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release - April 17, 2008

Department of State Signs Letter of Intent for World Expo Shanghai 2010
The U.S. Department of State has signed a Letter of Intent to work with “Shanghai Expo 2010,” a non-profit group headed by Ellen Eliasoph, attorney with Washington law firm Covington & Burling, and Nick Winslow, leisure industry expert and theme park developer, to develop a U.S. Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China.

The Letter of Intent will allow the Eliasoph and Winslow group to further develop and implement its ideas for the project, and provides documentation the group can use when approaching private sector donors. The Department of State Action Plan requires that our non-profit partner (Shanghai Expo 2010) have all required funding in hand before the Department signs a Memorandum of Agreement for the project , and, in turn, a Participation Contract with the Chinese Expo organizers. The Participation Contract commits the United States to present a U.S. National Pavilion at the Expo.

Working with a private sector partner is essential because the Department of State is prohibited by federal law from spending appropriated funds to participate in expositions such as World Expo Shanghai 2010, which are registered by the Bureau of International Expositions.

For information on the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its programs, visit http://exchanges.state.gov/.

16 April 2008

Now Online, THE EXPO BOOK Reveals How to Plan, Organize, Promote, Host, Design and Operate a World's Fair


(IPM Magazine)
Picture: Venezuela Pavilion at Hanover Expo 2000, photographed by Gordon Linden

DUBAI, UAE, April 16, 2008 -- “There is very little published material on how expos are born, organized and operated. As a result, expo organizers often get off to a rough start,” says Gordon Linden AIA, AICP, co-author of The Expo Book, speaking from his current base of operations as Manager of Planning and Urban Design for the Dubai office of Parsons International. “But that doesn’t have to be the case,” continues Linden. “While each event is unique, there are many common factors that, if understood, would prevent or lessen many of the problems that tend to crop up again and again, consuming precious time and resources. And it’s worth it – because a world expo is a monumental, magnificent undertaking with the potential to deliver significant regional benefits and positive global impact.”

THE EXPO BOOK is being published as a series in six consecutive installments of the bi-monthly IPM Magazine, a trade publication serving the attractions industry. The first three chapters are available in print, in IPM issues Nov-Dec 2007, Feb-Mar 2008 and April-May 2008. The downloadable electronic version is likewise available online at the IPM website www.InParkMagazine.com, and at www.TheExpoBook.com.

THE EXPO BOOK brings together a uniquely qualified team, headed by co-authors Gordon Linden and Paul Creighton, a pair of seasoned international expo consultants with several decades’ experience advising world’s fairs and mega-events such as the Olympic Games. Special contributor is Bob Rogers of BRC Imagination Arts...

Fulldome Video is The Hottest Digital Technology for Immersive Education and Entertainment



Milwaukee, WI - April 13, 2008 (IPM Magazine)

Fulldome video systems are rapidly replacing traditional star projectors in planetariums around the world, and are also being adopted by science centers and other types of museums for their dome theaters, according to an article in the April-May 2008
issue of IPM Magazine.

The article, "Digital Dome-Ocracy," written by film director/producer Bayley Silleck
(Cosmic Voyage, Dinosaurs Alive 3D, Wired to Win), ventures behind the scenes in
the fascinating, specialized world of facilities that have astronomy-oriented,
educational missions....

Picture: from the fulldome production SonicVision

Griffith Observatory’s Magical Makeover


I wrote this article for Exhibit Builder, which published it in early 2008. It has now been reprinted on Blooloop.com:

On November 3, 2006, Griffith Observatory reopened after a successful redo of the entire facility, a four-year, $93 million project. First opened in 1935, it was the fulfillment of Griffith J. Griffith’s vision of a public scientific and educational institution. Griffith Observatory has stood as a national leader in public astronomy education, a beloved civic gathering place, and one of Southern California's most popular attractions. Griffith Observatory is also a well-known visual and cultural icon of Los Angeles. Its elegant triple dome, crowning Mount Hollywood, has popped up in numerous films over the decades, including Rebel Without a Cause and The Terminator. The Observatory has been called the “Hood Ornament of Los Angeles.”

But even an institution so well conceived that its exhibits capture the public interest for 70 years eventually needs an update. By the time it closed for the makeover, the many original 1930s exhibits that had been retained through the decades were very well worn - by the roughly 70 million visitors who had passed through Griffith’s doors. Griffith Observatory was in need of rejuvenation – but wisely chose a course that would preserve everything that was loved and admired about the original while at the same time bringing the institution into the present and preparing it for the future.... [click the title link to read the full article and see pictures]

03 April 2008

Ted Allan: The Eye, the Dome and the Expo

I never met the late Ted Allan, but I corresponded with him and worked with him for years. From 1987-1995, I was associate editor of World’s Fair magazine and he was a regular columnist. Mr. Allan was a natural and prolific writer and his submissions were always entertaining and sharply observant. After I left World’s Fair, I invited him to contribute to various publications I edited and he would always oblige with a fascinating article whenever he was asked.

Ted Allan worked on his first world expo project as an architect in 1951 and subsequently became involved in the exhibition and trade fair business nonstop, including all the major expos worldwide. He was British Commissioner General at Vancouver Expo 86, President of the Executive Commission at the BIE in Paris from 1986-1992 and BIE President 1992-1993. In ‘retirement,’ he wrote and broadcast on the subject, and continued as an advisor on expo projects.

In this article, presented just as originally published in 2000 in a quarterly magazine that I edited for TEA - only the websites have been updated - Ted Allan comments, in his unique and delightful, world-witty diplomat’s voice, on what were then two of London’s newest landmarks: the London Eye and the Millennium Dome. He follows it with a summary of world expo doings at the time (note: Shanghai landed the 2010 expo, www.shanghai-expo.com). There’s enough name-dropping and historical context here to make the reader feel like a political insider, and all the observations are still fresh and relevant today. I wish Ted Allan was here today to comment on that and a few other things. He was what I’d call a great human being.

Many thanks to TEA for giving permission to republish this article, and to Blooloop for enthusiastically taking it on. By doing so, they allow more people to appreciate Ted Allan.... [click the title link to read Ted Allan's article on Blooloop.com]

13 March 2008

TEA and ERA Release Theme Park Attendance Numbers for 2007

On March 14, 2008 at 6:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight time, the TEA/ERA Theme Park Attendance Report for 2007 will be available on the websites of TEA and ERA as well as at the websites of industry publications Park World Magazine and InPark Magazine (IPM) . It presents global attendance data of top theme parks and waterparks, broken down by geographic region, by chain and by type of venue.

The report is a collaboration by TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) – the leading international trade alliance for the creators of compelling experiences and places – and ERA (Economics Research Associates) – a top international consulting firm providing economic analysis for the entertainment and leisure industry. It is a definitive reference work relied upon by journalists and professionals in the attractions and tourism community. The report also stirs intense interest among theme park enthusiasts.

10 February 2008

USS Monitor Center - Newport News VA

The USS Monitor Center in Newport News is involved in a very longterm project: desalinating and restoring the remains of the historic Union vessel that was part of a critical Civil War encounter. The ironclad ship's turret and other portions were salvaged from the deep not long ago but they will remain in their stabilization tanks for years. In the meantime, the Maritime Museum has produced this first-rate educational guest experience which includes several replicas of the turret, numerous interactives and specialty theaters.

The Monitor Center has been given thumbs-up approval by diehard Civil War aficionados. I enjoyed writing up this remarkable project for Lighting & Sound America magazine and it has just been reprinted online at Blooloop. Click the title link to read it.

Urso Chappell and Expo Museum

Urso Chappell is a world's fair enthusiast and a talented designer based in the San Francisco area. He is, appropriately, the graphic designer of The Expo Book, a book about the business side of world's fairs by Gordon Linden and Paul Creighton. I am editing The Expo Book and it is having its first appearance serially in six installments, in six consecutive issues of InPark magazine.

Architect magazine recently ran a short spotlight article about Urso and his excellent website, Expo Museum. Click on the title link to read it.