Mount Saint Helens Visitor Center

Introduction

The U.S. government hired General Projection to integrate a sophisticated visitors center multimedia system at the base of Mt. St. Helens, Washington. This facility was designed to step a visitor through the evolution of the Mt. St. Helens are since the eruption in the early 1980's.

Design

The facility contains multiple areas for the public to learn about Mt. St. Helens. As the visitor tours the sophisticated facility, they are provided with an infra-red based handset. This handset allows the visitor to receive audio programming in various languages as they step through the visitors center.

Interactive kiosks with great volcano view!

Programmatic "zones" are created which allow the visitor to self-pace his or her tour. As the visitor steps from zone to zone they are handed off by the infra-red transmitters General Projection installed throughout the facility. In this way, audio programming does not interfere from one exhibit to the next. Interactive kiosks and numerous other exhibits (projected and on monitors) allow the visitor to learn about the progression of flora and fauna in the Mt. St. Helens area since the catastrophic eruption.

The "icing on the cake" for the center is an interactive video wall comprised of 16 large screen monitors connected through General Projection designed video wall processors and laser disc based source information.

Success

The visitors center has been such a huge success, hosting thousands, that additional visitor centers are being planned throughout the Mt. St. Helens area. The technology has allowed visitors of all ages to learn about the re-markable re-birth that has taken place as the months and years passed since the area was turned into a blackened cauldron.