Museums
Naturalis Biodiversity Center
A cinematic museum experience that turns a handful of fossils into a face-to-face encounter with Homo erectus.
The experience
Visitors follow Eugène Dubois’ search for the missing link, from an atmospheric audiovisual introduction to a jewel-box display of fossils and a lifelike Homo erectus. Light, reflection and shadow connect scientific evidence with our own human story.
Stats
Client: Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Design: Designwolf, Onne Brouwer
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
Type: Permanent museum exhibition
Year: 2019
Area: 164 m²
Our job
Hypsos built the permanent exhibition, translating Designwolf’s spatial concept into a precisely finished museum experience. The work included exhibition construction and the development of subtle visual and lighting effects in close collaboration with the designer.
Naturalis: a cinematic museum experience
How do you make a few difficult-to-read fossils feel essential to the story of humankind? Naturalis built the exhibition around Eugène Dubois’ determined search for evidence of human evolution and his discovery of Homo erectus on Java.
The visitor experience unfolds in three acts. A light portal marks the transition into an audiovisual story, ending with the revelation that the original fossils are present in the room. Inside a velvet-lined treasure chamber, they appear suspended beside a white reconstruction. A semi-transparent mirror visually places the bones within the body, creating an analogue form of augmented reality.
The final encounter is with a lifelike Homo erectus created by Kennis & Kennis. Carefully directed light casts her shadow alongside those of the visitors, bringing past and present together.
Hypsos delivered the exhibition construction and developed its subtle visual effects with Designwolf. The result makes complex science tangible, emotional and unmistakably human.
Project credits
Client and concept: Naturalis
Design: Designwolf, Onne Brouwer
Wax statue by Gebr. Kennis & Kennis
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