We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer ANO Moy Rayon Team about their original and creative Exhibition design work. ANO Moy Rayon Team is an award-winning service designer, that makes our world a better place with their original exhibition works.
ANO Moy Rayon Team ("AMRT") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work City Details Exhibition. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AMRT : The design of the City: Details exhibition held last October at VDNKh (the Exhibition of Economic Achievements expocenter) is the result of joint work done by a team of designers and a team of our employees who work on the implementation of the My District program launched by the Mayor and the Government of Moscow. Our team initiated this idea and outlined the main directions for its implementation. The main aim of the My District program is to create equalized development conditions for each and every district of the capital. That is, Moscow residents no longer have to go to the city center in search of entertainment or in order to deal with some personal matters. Now everything they need has to be located in the neighborhood – be it a modern health care facility, children's and sports grounds, recreation areas or a beautiful amusement park. This global idea is the cornerstone of our concept that became a response to modern trends in the development of urban environment. These very trends are currently changing the image of various districts and cities, and Moscow is no exception. The interactive exhibition space with an area of 15,000 square meters represented a city divided into the zones that are already familiar to Muscovites: a major attraction of a district, an amphitheater, a night city installation, a square for playing board games, a sports ground, children's playgrounds, a street, and a food court.
AMRT : Above all things, we wanted the city prototype that we created for the exhibition to be beautiful, modern and comfortable to live in. That is why we put special emphasis on the aesthetic side of the project and gave through consideration to all essential details. Today, it is impossible to imagine any kind of urban environment without modern technologies. We paid special attention to this aspect. The visitors encountered a large multi-screen art object right by the entrance to the exhibition. That interactive art installation was made up of two 9-meter-high stelae and ten touch control tables. The entire visible surface of the stelae was covered with led screens. A visitor would select a Moscow district they were interested in on the control screen. Following that, a video about this very district would appear on a stela facet. Note that the visitors could not only create a visual image of an art object in real time, but also determine the associative array of Moscow districts (sports, culture, transport, leisure) that got displayed on touch panels in the form of statistic data, also in real time. One could simply tap on the screen to select and watch 5 short but very interesting videos (specially created for the exhibition) about the evolution of familiar items: benches, playgrounds, street lights and public transport stops. Besides, each and every visitor to the exhibition had an opportunity to vote and determine the best exhibit in each category (sports grounds, playgrounds, etc.). To vote, one simply had to scan the participant's QR code that had been generated during the registration. Visitors also had a chance to vote by using the touch panels installed at the venue.
AMRT : Most notably, it was the desire to show how beautiful, friendly and secure a modern city and its districts can be. And we are able to create such a city or district by joining our efforts, we can do it with our own hands. Parks, squares, playgrounds and sports areas – all these objects form the environment we are used to. However, if we work on and perfect this environment, we will be able to significantly improve the quality of life of all categories of citizens – both adults and children, young mothers and elderly people, teenagers and the rising generation. Districts with comfortable living environment and equal opportunities for all – I guess, this is the main idea of our concept.
AMRT : Among the visitors of the City: Details exhibition were both Muscovites and the guests of our city. Therefore, we tried to provide everything for their convenience and to make the exhibition vivid and informative. The idea was to motivate people to come to the exhibition as a family – so that each family member could find something interesting among the exhibits, and the visit would be impressive and memorable. Children liked the playground area and the square for playing board games. Visitors of all ages appreciated the original and beautiful art objects. A very eventful formal and cultural program was prepared for the visitors. The events took place in a specially designated area – the Amphitheater – where a large (42x7 meters) video wall was installed. Various presentations and videos were demonstrated on the wall during formal events; visitors could also watch movies and short films about the evolution of urban furniture. Besides, the video wall played the part of a platform for an unusual photo exhibition about Moscow: everyone could participate in it by posting their photos of the city (in advance, of course) in social networks under a special hashtag. The performances of music bands also took place here.
AMRT : This would be, of course, our very extensive use of modern technologies. But not only that. For example, we developed and implemented some interesting ideas that involved water. We installed dynamic fountains in the center of a city square prototype. The exhibition was international: among its participants were 52 companies representing 11 countries. Thus, we gave the citizens of Moscow a chance to see the top solutions on the urban environment improvement that are currently being implemented all over the world. After all, feeling yourself at home in your own neighborhood and being proud of it is, undoubtedly, an amazing sensation!
