Kidstown represents a major expansion of this science center’s commitment to early childhood education. Designed in response to the community’s unique cultural symbols, each of Kidstown’s seven sub-areas is grounded in Roto’s extensive experience with children’s play and learning across a wide variety of styles and materials.
Features
- “Orange Grove” multifaceted ball and factory play
- “Drip Drop Splash” premium interconnected water tables
- “Climb Time” thematic climbing structure
- “Toddler Play” reserved area for young children
- “Explore It” for numerous cause-and-effect STEM interactives
- “Kidstown Studio” for art and creativity
- “Theater” for supporting flexible performing arts
Innovative design for children’s exhibits requires that children themselves be active during essential portions of the development process. Roto’s in-house evaluation and testing process through all stages of development and final fabrication enabled our design team to collaborate with OSC exhibits and education personnel and create truly original experiences.
The two most intensive areas of development, the ball-and-factory inspired Orange Grove (simulating actual steps in orange farming and processing) and the Drip Drop water exhibits (including never-before-seen interactive features), were intensively mocked-up, prototyped, tested, and improved over a 9-month period.
Such emphasis on visitor-centered design and engineering produces extremely effective and durable final exhibits. What is valuable for the development of any children’s exhibit becomes critical when designing large galleries comprised of numerous interconnected working parts. Whether using orange balls or water, provisions have been pre-engineered for all possible visitor behaviors, with premium attention given to maintenance access, reliability and longevity.
"Roto has a wonderful process to get the experience your museum desires. Through testing and prototyping, we iterated several paths of interaction for many of our components, in New KidsTown, and our guests have had nothing but rave reviews for the experience. Best part, they continue to support and iterate after opening, while we have continued to learn new guest behavior."
- Brandan Lanman, VP Visitor Experience
