The Creative Kids Museum enables children under-eight to learn and prob- lem solve in an open, fun environment


the space. As they get older they can do different things – the spider webbing piece is not an easy thing to do; it’s a little scary. We wanted to let kids take a risk and do something out of their comfort zone. In our Earth and Sky exhibition space we


give people the opportunity to explore the forces of water and how that shapes our landscapes. We have a very long stream table, which starts off as a waterfall, runs through a canyon, opens up into some flat areas, then eventually curves around and disappears. People create dams to see what happens when they build on flood planes, or build houses on flat areas, then release the water flow and watch the consequences. We can control the water levels, so we have lots of rivers around, but we also have droughts. By reducing the water flow we can talk about what happens to our local environment, how that impacts the amount of water flow and how much water is available for irrigation. There are also a couple of erosion tables so visitors can play around with what happens when the snow melts and erosion happens. Most water tables are for children, so we wanted to design one for adults. In our Energy and Innovation space, people build their own wind turbines and see how they perform. In the Open Studio gallery, visitors can tell a story, create an object, take something apart and put it


AM 2 2012 ©cybertrek 2012


back together in a different way. In our Being Human space we have an Eye Tracker exhibit. Your gaze is tracked as you look at particular images and then you compare yourself to an expert. For example, you look at an art piece as an amateur and then see what a professional artist looks for and compare your gazes. There’s also the opportunity to try flirting


with someone – how does that work, what things do you do, are you starting to sweat? It’s a fun space and there’s a lot of laughter and conversation.


How did you choose the content?


For the 150 exhibits that are on the floor, we tested 4,000 ideas. By doing that we were able to get a really powerful handle on what people wanted. The Human Gallery was originally going to be called The Human Body. We tried a bunch of classic biology exhibits and people would play with them for about 20 seconds, then move on. Our developer started to explore ideas about the relationships we have, how we interact, how we communicate. Those exhibits had much more resonance with the audience, so instead of a gallery about the human body, we have one about the things that make us human. That was a really profound shift for us –


a scary one too because we put the power of decision making with the audience.


Visitors learn through interactives What is the building’s design?


The building sits on reclaimed land, which the city donated. We’re built on top of an old creek, which had been filled in with industrial garbage. We didn’t want it to be an over-stated


architectural building. The culture of Calgary is low key, so we didn’t want this thing with giant crystals or crazy roofs. It needed to feel as though it belonged in both the city and in this location. Because one of our goals is to encour-


age people to be more innovative, the building needed to be a showcase for innovation. We’ve worked hard to create a


Read Attractions Management online attractionsmanagement.com/digital 45


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