When we’re called to do some maintenance on exhibits, why not take the opportunity to make some upgrades at the same time? The City of Bath World Heritage Centre https://www.bathworldheritage.org.uk/, a lovely free centre where you can find out what makes the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Bath so special https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/428/, and a great place to plan your trip around this gorgeous Georgian city of Roman heritage, engaged Nick from W19 Design http://w19design.co.uk/exhibit-repair-and-refresh/ to look at several interactive exhibits that were no longer working. Whilst assisting with the maintenance and hardware upgrades, I also helped to improve the visitor experience and added content to the Hot Springs exhibit.

Formerly, this exhibit was a tank of water with an air compressor delivering bubbles to act as a visual attractor simulating the bubbling of the hot spring. After several years, the water level had dropped and the bubbles had become an intermittent weak trickle. Rather than replacing the hardware to create a like-for-like experience, we switched the physical tank of water out for a screen providing a much more consistent and brighter-looking digital simulation, which would require no more maintenance from the visitor centre team. This had the added bonus of being able to display additional content on screen to add to the existing display about the historic uses of the precious waters of Bath – the touch pads already being there but previously only lighting up on touch, now they display corresponding bubbles of info on screen that float up and away after being read. The visitor centre team can also now update or add to the digital content to keep the visitor experience fresh and engaging.