After more than three years of designing, planning, building, and coding, the Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo is now open to the public. Over 20 exhibits for two brand new buildings dedicated to herpetology and invertebrates. From digital signage to full-dome projection, from unique fabricated pieces to custom software, there is plenty to explore in this new exhibition.

Migration Full-Dome Experience

The centerpiece of the invertebrate building immerses visitors in a full-dome projection experience. Butterflies, fireflies, and other insects move across the dome while visitors view them from below. The scene changes from day to night as new insect characters are introduced. A meadow encircles the space with tall grasses and oversized flowers, helping to make the room feel even more immersive. A massive 7.1 surround sound system and ambient scents of flowers and grass complete the scene. This experience plays with scale in a way that offers visitors a bug’s eye view of the world and a peek into their fascinating lives.

Living River Animated LED Sculpture

In the herpetology building, the centerpiece exhibit is the Living River, an animated LED sculpture that helps set the tone for the space. The Living River sculpture is made up of 3,245 individually mapped LEDs spread across 145 neon LED strips. That’s a total of 1,330 feet of LED strips! Ideum worked closely with Environmental Lights to design this one-of-a kind system. Ideum used Unity to program a real-time animation that mimics the colors and movement of a river. This dynamic sculpture directs visitors through the building as they view various reptile and amphibian enclosures along the way.

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Custom Fabricated Microscope Stations

Custom microscope stations allow young visitors to explore a variety of animals and plants at the Wildlife Explorers Basecamp. Each set of microscope stations was custom designed for each building. Ideum worked closely with the architects on the design and material selection, as we developed shop drawings and fabricated each set of stations. A software program, also designed and developed by Ideum, allows visitors to capture a picture of the object under the microscope. After capturing an image, visitors are then able to create their own artistic overlay using a variety of colors, stamps, and filters. When their piece is complete, they are able to save and send their creative work via email.

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Stick Insects Multiscreen Interactives

Visitors learn about stick insects and their remarkable camouflage with a two-screen interactive game. Visitors seek out and find stick insects in two animated and illustrated scenes, one depicting a tropical setting and the other a eucalyptus forest. Ideum created all of the custom illustrations, and designed and developed the exhibit in close coordination with the zoo’s curators. This digital game helps visitors to build the skills they need to find the actual stick insects, many of which are housed in nearby enclosures. Two custom 86” inline open frame displays are embedded into the walls in the invertebrate building. The arrangement provides a large canvas that can accommodate multiple visitors.

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Volunteer Stations: Docent and Visitor Experiences

Ideum designed and built a pair of custom volunteer stations. Like the microscope stations, they are incredibly durable and use hardened materials. In addition to the design and fabrication, Ideum worked closely with the curators at SDZWA to create compelling programs. One is designed to be led by docents and includes a custom RFID reader that allows volunteers to switch between software at the swipe of a card. In addition, the docent-led application allows volunteers to call up images, maps, and other important contextual information about various animals to support discussion with visitors.