CROSSING THE PELL

Project: Exhibition

Loction: Old Colony House, Newport, USA

Year: 2022 Fall

Team work (Chuchu Chen, Zhaoyang Cui, Victor Deng, Jinlan Huang, Xinzhu Huang, Shravan Rao, Yicheng Ren, Hongli Song, Xueyun Tang, Zhijie Tang, Zefeng Wang, Xinjie Xiang, Chang Xie, George Xu)

"Crossing the Pell" is an exhibition that used the magic of virtual and augmented reality technology to explore tantalizing visions for a future Pell Bridge that allows people to enjoy breathtaking views over Narragansett Bay while walking or bicycling over the span. Our goal was to help acclimate the public to something new using virtual reality to create an immersive 3D experience.

More than 450 participants, ages 3 to 93, were transported inside these inspiring visions, where they virtually walked and pedaled 2.1 miles across the iconic Claiborne Pell Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in New England.

Background

Poet Carl Sandburg said, “Nothing happens unless we first dream.” The construction of the Claiborne Pell Bridge in 1969 resulted from the dreams of many who wished to connect Aquidneck Island to Jamestown and beyond. More than half a century later and within a different context, many dream of crossing that bridge not in a car but on foot or on a bicycle.

The projects - Conductivity, The Net, Inhabited Bridge and All the World’s a Stage - were first developed in 2021 during the Crossing the Pell RISD Interior Architecture studio. Students developed visions for adding a suspended lower level to the bridge that would allow for pedestrians and cyclists as well as arts venues, parks, cafes and even a floating fish market.

I am in the Exhibition Design Team (2022), the team is responsible for the design, construction, reception of the entire exhibition. Use state-of-the-art virtual reality (VR) to bring to life the designs developed in the Crossing the Pell studio.

Requirements

Limited budget (up to 5000$)

Exhibits

4 Infrastructural Visions

Fast construction (only half a day to install everything)

Reusable (Travel Exhibition)

Easy Transportation (Travel Exhibition)

New Technology (VR and AR)

4 Activities

AR

Demo Exhibition

Location: RISD Center for Integrative Technologies (CIT)/Mason Building, RI, USA

Design team: Zhaoyang Cui - Graphic design and Feedback, Chuchu Chen - Space language & Modeling and Rendering

It was a three-day design, and my group's idea was finally chosen to build. With limited time and budget, we maximized the use of existing furniture, designed simple but clear streamlining and focused on a graphic system which could control the whole space. The island in the middle provides the receptionist with a position to control the entire space, realize the handover of electronic devices, provide feedback postcard drawing area, etc.