Nykris weathers Smithsonian and Nasa exhibition

Nykris has presented initial design concepts to Nasa and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington as part of a project to create an interactive and multimedia presentation for a £690 000 ($1m) exhibition about the planet.

The consultancy, which will command a fee of £40 000 for the work, presented concepts last Friday and work will launch in time for the opening of the exhibition in April 2002.

The exhibition, called Global Links, will be permanently housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, which attracts around nine million visitors a year, Nykris business development director Philip Read claims. Global Links attempts to explain Earth System Science, the interaction of the atmosphere, the biosphere, the geosphere and the hydrosphere. The exhibit is a collaboration between the museum and Nasa.

Nykris will create a presentation that takes the form of a series of projections, each telling a story about the four systems that make up ESS. The stories will be supported by live images from real-time Nasa data and animation.

The consultancy will also create a series of interactive touch-screen ‘kiosks’ that will educate people further about ESS, but predominantly feature information about El Nino. The El Nino phenomenon best explains the link between the four earth systems, says Read.

Nykris won the work via an unpaid creative and technical pitch against six international groups.