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A Nation of Speed Content Document A Nation of Speed Content Document Exhibition #1 Working Title: A Nation of Speed Target Opening Date: 11/2020 Duration of Exhibition: 10 years Size of Gallery: 5,311 sq. ft., ceiling height 25 ft. Gallery Location: NMB Gallery 203 Subject Areas: Technological innovations and achievements Target Audience: General Target “Design-to” number: $7,682,457.00 Needed Services: Exhibition Design, Image Research and Acquisition NASM Project Number: E-061-15-007 Speed Exhibition #1 – A Nation of Speed This gallery will define “speed” as the act or state of moving swiftly within the context of the historical period in which individuals and groups operated fast-moving technology. The focus is not on what constitutes extreme speed today, but to rediscover the people, the technology, and the times in which these stories took place and their social and cultural ramifications. The content in this exhibition will be supported by a display of key artifacts (models and actual) over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by air, rail, water, roads and highways. Exhibition Space Gallery 203 is a windowless gallery approximately 5000 square feet with a 25 ft. ceiling and a single entrance/exit. All galleries will be delivered by the Revitalization project to the design team as black boxes with open ceilings and a lighting grid. The electrical and IT will be updated facilitating more cutting edge interactive and visitor experiences. Final electrical capacity and specific material finishes have not been defined and the contractor will be responsible to coordinate with the COTR the final black box details which are being developed. Contractor shall be responsible for verifying that they have the latest version of the Black Box description. Exhibition Scope The National Air and Space Museum seeks the services of talented and creative exhibit design professionals to assist in the conceptualization, transformation, and creation of new exhibition galleries and visitor experiences. The following scope of work identifies the exhibition work at a “high/broad level. The breakdown of the work will involve the following items to be identified at a minimum: Engineering Studies will be need to be performed to identify the requirements to install and support the large artifacts (human scale) scheduled for display for this exhibition (i.e., wall display of large engines to be suspended on the west wall; Automobiles (race cars, muscle cars, to be displayed on the gallery floor). In addition, the large artifacts that will be on display throughout the exhibition will require custom supports (i.e. internal bracing within the building walls and ceilings and floors to support the suspension of these objects. The floors will need to reinforced to support the weight of equipment (i.e. fork lifts, JLG’s, etc.) to install the large objects scheduled for display (floor, wall and ceiling displays). This engineering study will also need to evaluate the support required for delivery of these objects from the street into the building proper. The gallery space will need to be flexible to accommodate the installation, removal, move of all objects, especially the large in a sequential and non-sequential, situation. This will enable artifacts that may require removal before the exhibition closes due to loan agreements. The medium to small artifacts (i.e., racing helmets, steering wheels, railroad ties, artifact models) will require glass display cases that may require individually temperature controlled environments and security. This will need to be determined depending on the requirements of the objects scheduled for display. Overall this exhibition will require cameras, sensors and a robust barrier protection for the objects (i.e. automobiles that will be displayed on the floor. The galley flooring will need to be durable/long lasting and healthy for the planet, people and the artifacts. It must also be capable of withstanding high traffic by our visitors and the occasional use of our equipment (i.e. forklifts, JLG’s). There will a few environments on display to include a Speed Shop, Classroom and Toll Booth. The Speed Shop is envisioned to be a fully interactive display. The main door and the rolling shop doors will be accessible by the public and is envisioned to support an interactive display of tools and education programming. The Classroom will be a three dimensional presentation of actual Child’s school desk (“Duck and Cover”), Fallout Shelter signs, static in nature. There will also be a human scale facsimiles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Tollbooth Façade There will be several interactives (i.e. CI’s, MI’s and video’s) that will be developed and scheduled for display that will require audio visual equipment (i.e., monitors, sound). To effectively “seal in” the sound of each interactive a minor sound soak acoustical treatment (panels on the walls and/or ceiling) will be necessary in order to prevent bleed into other areas during the operation of these interactives. All of the interactives will require evaluation testing prior to final installation. Below is a representative list of some of the interactives identified for this exhibition: The team has considered both digital and mechanical interactives to best reach the numerous learning styles and generational experience of visitors. They have been listed as individual units in the outline to reference their location, but we want to stress that these are still in the development phase and the specific content and final number of interactives is subject to change. The eight interactives that are currently under consideration are: • Race for Speed: Comparing Unaided Human Speed to Technology-aided Speed.The purpose of this interactive is to allow visitors to better understand the relative speed of different things and how ultimately technology increases the ability of things to move faster. Visitors will be able to compare their speed to the speed of other things (e.g. professional sprinter, racehorse, cheetah, racecar, airplane, etc.), possibly on a video wall showing these other things (or objects) racing against visitors. Visitors might select a particular thing to “race” against. On a cue from the interactive the visitor and the object could race down the length of the screen. The interactive could then show the speeds of both the visitor and the object, giving the visitor the opportunity to compare speeds. This would most likely require a large footprint and would cost much more than a normal computer interactive. This type of interactive would, however, address a different type of learning style (i.e. kinesthetic) than many of our other interactives. • How Fast?: Measuring Speed The purpose of this interactive is to help the visitor understand how the exhibit defines speed in the context of the gallery. For this exhibit, the artifacts and stories are specifically referencing physical speed. A key to understanding physical speed, however, is understanding the instruments used to measure speed. This interactive will showcase items such as speedometers, airspeed indicators, and pitot tubes, and explain how different vehicles measure speed on the ground, in the air, and in space. • Take the Controls: Drive or Fly the ArtifactsThe purpose of this interactive is to allow the visitor to experience what it is like to be inside one of the many vehicles on display, as well as possibly those which it would not actually be possible to ride on in real life. Some examples include Winton Bullet No. 2 Racing Car, Spirit of America Jet-Propelled Car, 1984 Pontiac Grand Prix NASCAR Racer, Swamp Rat XXX Top Fuel Dragster, Turner Meteor Thompson Trophy- Winning Air Racer, Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star Lulu Belle, Titan I ICBM, and the NASA X- 43 Scramjet Hypersonic (Mach 9.6) Research Vehicle Model. The interactive could allow the visitor to attempt to control the object at a very high-speed to showcase how difficult it can be. The interactives use of a range of objects from the early 1900s to today would showcase how the concept of “going fast” has changed as machines have changed. • Evel Knievel Engineering: Calculate Knievel’s speed, angle, and thrust to see whether his motorcycle lands correctly on the opposite ramp or crashesThe purpose of this interactive is to allow the visitor to see that the stunts of Evel Knievel were more than just pure sportsmanship where speed was a crucial factor. The Knievel motorcycle from the NMAH collection is currently designed to hang in the entrance of the gallery to welcome visitors to the exhibition. This interactive will help showcase the motorcycle’s connection to the thrill of speed. In order for a motorcycle jump to work, numerous factors need to be taken into account such as friction, the angle of the ramp, and the speed at which the motorcycle leaves the ramp in order to travel the right distance. This interactive will showcase the importance of understanding the physics of speed in a way that may not be obvious to most visitors. The interactive could include clips from actual jumps if they can be located in sufficient resolution. • Need for Speed: Visitors use an interactive display to bring up media examplesThe purpose of this interactive is to allow the visitor to see just how much of an impact the “need for speed” has had on American popular culture. This interactive would allow the visitor to view clips from popular movies and TV shows, as well as hear music, which all specifically speak to the desire to go fast. Examples include science fiction shows like Star Trek and the use of a “Warp Drive”, music of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and The Rip Chords, films from Steve McQueen such as Bullitt (1968), On Any Sunday (1971), and Le Mans (1971), as well as automotive journalism and car magazines.
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