"Jaw-droppingly impressive" interactives unveiled at the new Great North Museum
May 2009

A major new visitor attraction in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Great North Museum: Hancock, has opened its doors to the public. It features digital installations designed and developed by Cogapp, bringing a wide variety of historical, geographical and natural world exhibitions to life.

Since winning a highly competitive tender for the project last summer, we've been working on 15 software interactives and 10 audiovisual (AV) presentations, ranging from wall-sized recreations of ancient temples and virtual oceans to simple audio descriptions provided on listening wands. One piece is a touchable, interactive virtual map projected onto a table surface, which allows users to explore various aspects of Northumbria.

Cogapp developed the installations in conjunction with Great North Museum staff, building on their original concepts from exhibition designers Casson Mann. We've been responsible for sourcing the vast majority of images and video, as well as editing the AV components. During the process of building the interactives themselves, we subjected them to user testing sessions at our in-house observation facility.

The £26 million Great North Museum brings together collections from four separate exhibition spaces: the Hancock Museum, Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities and the Shefton Museum. The Hatton Gallery is also a part of the Great North Museum but remains in its existing building. As such it features an impressively varied selection of displays, allowing visitors to explore 350 million years of natural history and human evolution and see displays of world-class treasures brought together under one roof. Highlights of the new museum include a planetarium, a unique bio-wall displaying the diversity of animal life on Earth, a life-size replica T. rex skeleton, mummies from Ancient Egypt and a large-scale model of Hadrian’s Wall.

Professor Paul Younger, Newcastle University Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement, and chair of the Great North Museum board, says: From more than half a million items, 3,500 are on display in our new galleries, combining the fruits of the labours of Victorian scholars from the North East of England with the very latest graphic technology. Not only is the result jaw-droppingly impressive, it also unlocks the research potential of this world-class collection for generations to come.

Steve McLean, Great North Museum senior manager, says: We have worked closely with Cogapp to develop some fantastic interactive displays for the new Museum, which really help to bring the exhibits to life. We are delighted with the results and I’m sure that the new displays will be enjoyed by a huge number of visitors!”

Ian Smith, Senior Producer and Project Manager for the Great North Project at Cogapp, added: The Great North Museum project has been a great opportunity for Cogapp to draw on over two decades of experience delivering pioneering digital work for museums. We’ve enjoyed working with fascinating content material to a truly challenging and exciting brief, and contributing to this outstanding Museum.

Read the stories behind the creation of the exhibits on our blog.