Experience Music Project,
Seattle, Washington
The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
The Experience Music Project (EMP) is an interactive music museum located at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. Originally designed to house a collection of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia, it was expanded to provide a range of exhibitions and experiences designed to entertain and educate audiences of all ages on American popular music.
Within the EMP is the new Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame which includes a car from the film Blade Runner. The Museum provides an evocative environment that encourages visitors to immerse themselves in science fiction and experience alternate worlds.
What the customer wanted/was trying to achieve
Designers of the new museum wanted visitors to feel as if they were moving from this world to another, literally from reality to science fiction. Visitors have to ascend a staircase to get to the science fiction performance hall and this provided the perfect space in which to create the feeling of movement through a passage, reflecting a journey through space.
The solution and result
How do you transform a stairway for people into a space journey? In order to create the desired experience bold architectural elements were combined with the lighting. Hundreds of feet of conduit passes along the walls to create a galactic hyper-speed zone. TIR’s ColorTrace™ delineation product is integrated in five foot lengths into the rows of conduit in bright blue and amber to intensify the sense of movement, almost as if stars are streaking past, pulling visitors to the top of the stars and into the world of science fiction.
Lighting designer comments
Mary Claire Frazier, IALD, LC, LEED
Candela lighting design and consulting, Seattle WA
“As the entry to the performance space, we wanted the visitor to immediately connect with the world of science fiction, and feel that they are in transition to a new dimension. The tunnel of piping that breaks up into glowing colored sections and returns to piping gives the impression that there is something going on beyond the walls that is outside the normal realm.
With limited clearances available to create the effect and meet code space limitations, we needed luminaires that could appear to be in line with the piping and didn't require additional space behind the glowing section. The blue and amber ColorTrace products from TIR fit the bill perfectly. The intense yet ethereal light emitted by them provides enough illumination for minimal ambient requirements but is just disorienting enough to feel like a Star Wars ‘leap into hyperspace.’”
|
Architectural products resources 
