Graphite Deign + Build enlisted Weigl Controls to provide a wide range of control equipment for the design and production of the ProMedica Natural History Museum at Toledo Zoo. Originally constructed during the WPA projects, this unique building has long been home to the natural history museum landscape. Prior to demolition, truckloads of inefficient 1000w halogen theatrical fixtures and other outdated museum and 
related technologies were removed from the 81 year old building to make way for a completely new and innovative immersive lighting, audio and video museum experience.
Keeping the interactive elements aligned with the original look and feel was not an easy task. Custom brass backlit button panels were created to match surrounding elements and great care was taken to hide theatrical fixtures wherever possible within the space.
Environmental Lights provided Weigl with a large array of LED strip light configurations, some of which custom, for mural, graphic and cabinet lighting, to help meet some of these concealment challenges. Through these efforts, the historic museum space can be experienced successfully in a modern way with or without engaging in many of the interactive experiences.
While Graphite Design + Build made every effort to hide and mask the technology where possible, what lies behind the scenes is highly sophisticated in both automation and design. This provided a unique level of integration between museum interactivity and overarching architectural control systems.
Displays of ecosystems native to Ohio from the Ice Age to present day incorporate both automated and interactive audio and cycling environmental lighting, all of which controlled by a large network of ProCommander LX2’s. In total, 30 tracks of audio and 8 universes of DMX for several hundred light fixturesare managed by the system throughout the day.
Multiple interactive stations throughout the museum incorporating lighting, audio, pixel mapping, and video playback are also managed by local ProCommander® ES and Pro I/O™ modules. These elements, as well as facility lighting systems, theatrical lighting boards, projectors, and amplifiers are seamlessly combined and networked to the ProCommander® LX2 master system for a complete site-wide control framework. Communication with paging and safety systems has also been implemented for required automated exhibit responses to important messages or emergencies.
Custom configured touch panel interfaces were created by Weigl and deployed to screens placed throughout the museum for staff control of all elements ranging from facility-wide or individual exhibit start up and shutdown to custom lighting configurations and media playback in a public rentable event space. An Alcorn V16 and ShowTouch software were chosen to provide master control coordination between all Weigl devices and multiple touch panels throughout the facility. Weigl created the custom configured touch panel interfaces via Alcorn’s WinScript Live software, which provides rich support for Weigl architecture, allowing staff control of all elements ranging from facility-wide or individual exhibit start up and shutdown to custom lighting configurations and media playback in an included public rentable event space.At the push of a button, staff can even choose a color scheme to compliment a wedding party’s colors in the event space.
Shown to the left is an example of the wide variety of LED based lighting combinations that can be selected from the touch panel, or custom designed from a lighting console designed to compliment and work with the Weigl system for more advanced events and rentals. Each architectural element of the historic space, (formally known as the indoor theater) can be individually selected by color to highlight this newly renovated space. Historic chandeliers and existing theatrical fixtures were re-purposed, re-wired and outfitted with low energy LED lamps.
The projection system was overhauled, removing original film equipment and lower resolution video to make way for laser-light engine based 4K capable playback systems and 7.1 Multi-Channel audio. Similar to the lighting system, the touch panel system can run basic operations, or make way for a live network based audio system when required for larger events.
The museum also includes a unique interactive targeting game, Nature in Hand, which showcases hundreds of never-before-on-display artifacts from the zoo’s long history. Targets around the room signal an ever-changing RGB lighting landscape and tunable white cabinet lighting to highlight areas of focus relevant to the curation of assets included by Toledo Zoo historians within the space. This attraction is powered by Weigl’s PrismTag System technology with master control also provided by the ProCommander LX2’s. Read more about this attraction here.
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