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| “The Walk Through Heart” exhibit Franklin Institute Science Museum Philadelphia, PA. |
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| The Franklin Institute Science Museum is a science and technology center that emphasizes science and technology education. Seventy per cent (70%) of the more than 850,000 annual visitors to the Museum are children. The Museum's most popular exhibit is the world renowned Walk-Through-Heart. “The Heart” - as it is referred to, first began as a six-month temporary exhibit over 30 years ago. The exhibit proved so popular, in fact, that it was never dismantled. Over the years, the Institute's exhibit staff has refurbished the heart's interior with paint, plaster and chicken wire, but have not had the heart themselves, to part with the legendary two-and-a-half story structure. |
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| In an attempt to modernize the heart's dim, antiquated lighting system (no as-built drawings or electrical plan diagrams exist), the Institute collaborated with Band, Inc. on the development of a lighting design plan to illuminate the heart's interiors with fiber optic technology. Band began climbing, crawling and drilling its way through the heart's internal structure to determine and verify potential fiber optic passage routes into the heart's exhibit areas. While thousands of school children ran screaming through the heart each day, Band, Inc. remained virtually hidden, methodically plotting and installing the fiber optic fixtures required for the illumination of stairways, graphics, sculpted surfaces and painted details. |
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Click on the photo to view a QTVR virtual tour of the exhibit room
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| As a result of Band's efforts, The Franklin Institute's Walk-Through-Heart is safer, easier to navigate, more enjoyable and educational then it has ever been. Maintenance of light bulbs has been significantly reduced, with the vast majority of light produced from projectors concealed and located remotely from the exhibit 's interiors. |
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Click on the photo to view a QTVR virtual tour of the inside of the heart
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| The Franklin Institute is currently considering designing and building new, state-of-the-art version of the Walk-Through-Heart. Although an exact design has yet to be developed, and no date has been established for its completion, the new heart's lighting system has already been specified: fiber optics from Band, Inc. |
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