Client: British Gas
Year: 2015
Scale: 1:25
A brief-led project to design and produce four interactive models to communicate smart technology and energy efficiency measures in different properties. Each property was of a different style and told a different story - a traditional suburban family home, a urban apartment for young professionals, a modern house with built-in features, and a cafe/bakery to represent British Gas Business Services.
Each model used lights to highlight different features. For example, the apartment model showed Hive Active Heating, which can be operated remotely. In the model, the button was pushed, which led to a hub/thermostat on the wall blinking, followed by the radiators ‘glowing’ to represent the heating coming on. In the traditional family house, a dial could be rotated to turn on more appliances in the house, and as they did the smart meter went from green to amber to red.
Each model had two or three buttons, or a dial in the case of the family house. I used a combination of LEDs, neopixels, and electroluminescent panels and wires to create the various effects. The models each had a small programmable circuit board, Arduino, which controls the lighting sequence. The models were designed as white models, with just a highlight in blue and a simple landscape in green, to mirror British Gas colours. The models are used at their conference centre in Leicester.
Scroll to the bottom of the images to see a video of the interactive elements of the models.
There are many ways to engage with the public through models - see Exhibition Models for further info. For another interactive exhibit, see the Maglev Train for the National Museum of Scotland.