Energy Revolution is a permanent exhibition that addresses the rapid energy transition required to reduce climate change on a global scale, featuring objects and digital exhibits that highlight how we can journey towards a low carbon world.
Our role was to illuminate the key touchpoints and focal points along the visitor journey, while employing circular economy principles throughout the design process. This involved repurposing light fittings from the previous exhibition where possible and specifying luminaires from manufacturers with proven sustainability credentials.
The experience begins with a single light bulb that draws the eye to the message – ‘it all starts with an idea’. Activated by PIR sensors, the bulb slowly turns on before pulsating to create a moment for visitors to pause and reflect on the role energy plays in our lives.
Within the circular gallery, the lighting design helps to guide the narrative. Track-mounted spotlights in the gantry soffit direct light onto the interactive displays, and framing projectors accentuate objects of interest. Both solutions feature components repurposed from the previous exhibition.
Further into the gallery, spotlights mounted on hooks illuminate the space above the plinths. To safeguard the artefacts on show, each LED luminaire features a special lens and honeycomb louvre, designed to minimise glare. Additional stem-mounted spotlights produce halos of light across the information plates.
The centrepiece of the experience is Only Breath, a kinetic sculpture by Torus Torus Studios. Representing the fusion between energy technology and natural processes, the installation combines semi-transparent plates and two-way mirrors within a frame structure. As the sculpture expands and retracts, spotlights direct light onto the surfaces and cast shadows throughout the space for added drama.
Elsewhere, visitors can view a huge quadrant from the Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly (ZETA), a nuclear fusion experiment by British scientists in the late 1950s. Dynamic light emanates out of the quadrant, creating a subtle sense of movement that alludes to the power of the artefact.
Another interactive display reveals the full scale of a parabolic trough solar mirror, framed by a vertical light box that emits a diffuse yellow glow to reference the energising force of the sun. Linear projectors positioned above the lightbox, direct light onto the trough to create golden pools of light on the floor.
Images © Science Museum Group
