Client: Mississippi Children's Museum
Location: Jackson, MS, United States
Completion date: 2014
Artwork budget: $2,250,000
Project Team
Landscape Architect
Nuno Gonçalves Ferreira
NunoErin
Landscape Architect
Erin Hayne
NunoErin
Industry Resource
Donnie Goff
Fountain Construction
Client
Alicen Blanchard
Mississippi Children's Museum
Landscape Architect
Robert Poore
Industry Resource
Sarah Sheperd
Vortex International
Overview
The Literacy Garden at Mississippi Children’s Museum is a one-of-a-kind experience for children to cultivate early childhood literacy skills in an exciting, imaginative outdoor environment. The garden has been a statewide collaborative effort between renowned education and design partners to provide unparalleled experiences to all of Mississippi’s children. In the garden children will unlock wonders and adventures untold.
Goals
Six pre-reading skills guided the design of The Literacy Garden: 1.- Phonological Awareness (hear sounds), 2.- Print Awareness (read everything), 3.- Print Motivation (love books), 4.- Narrative Skills (tell stories), 5.- Letter Knowledge (know letters), 6.- Vocabulary (learn words). These six goals are achieved by creating different areas in the garden, conceptualized and designed by NunoErin in collaboration with Robert Poore. Lumiartecnia America and Vortex International developed the 20-feet tall Dancing Digital Water Curtain that writes water words, water patterns and liquid pictures revealed in the cascading water. Fountain Construction company carried out all civil construction tasks and the renovation of the space.
Process
NunoErin developed a series of exhibits and content creation tools that provide the museum with a platform and framework upon which to build and evolve their own interactive stories and content over time. Exemplary of these systems is the Sound Pylon Stage, an immersive storytelling system composed of spiraling sound towers, which house a hidden network of speaker, that tell stories across the system of pylons. As stories are told, the sound moves around the pylon system, guiding children through a physical space as the story unfolds. Other original space is The magical Digital Water Curtain, creating a unique water experience for children who are able to interact with the dancing waterfall by writing letters, texts or painting with their fingers, using a specific application for their tablets or smartphones.
Additional Information
This project was possible thanks to the generosity of all of the founding donors of the Build. Play. Grow! campaign.