DLC: An interactive Museum of Technology & Digital Learning Centre for Winnipeg's exchange district

Abstract

This practicum involved the adaptive reuse of The Royal Albert Arm’s Hotel, a four-storey building located on 48 Albert Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba’s culturally rich Exchange District. Through the exploration of the site’s adaptive design potential, the structure’s existing interior has been transformed into an interactive museum that aims at bridging academia, coding, and the electronic arts. The implementation of interactive design elements within the museum’s exhibits provides its visitors with a unique opportunity to investigate the impacts surrounding the integration and societal acceptance of technology, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. ð€Š‡ The interactive museum establishes an inspiring interior for its visitors to learn, appreciate, and discover the hidden passion surrounding technology. Additionally, this museum focuses on supporting a constructivist learning environment by incorporating a digital learning centre makerspace. The significance of the makerspace will foster an interior environment that supports community engagement with those who are interested in learning, testing, and sharing knowledge. This unique space will enable visitors to engage with circuitry and become immersed through interactive learning and introducing them to varying digital tools. This space will allow visitors to touch, feel, and create new meaningful connections with technology and the museum’s message. Furthermore, the makerspace’s approach to learning has challenged the traditional methodology of a museum’s educational objectives into a dedicated environment, a space that offers engaging activities which aim to achieve inclusiveness, public engagement, participation, and creativity from the museum visitor. ð€Š‡ Due to the rise of societal digitization and the broadening access to online collections, museums are recognizing the need to shift from being collection-centered to fostering community-centered environments that focus on meaningful engagement with their exhibited content. The primary intention of this adaptive reuse project is to create an engaging learning environment that responds to the digital era.