CHOOSE
Children select a physical seed and place it into a tangible interaction point within the installation.
HUANGClimatic Canvas.
- ROLE
- Interaction Designer · Developer · Animator
- CLIENT
- Children’s Museum of Atlanta
- TIME
- February — May 2024
- FORMAT
- Mixed-reality interactive installation
OVERVIEW
A tangible projected ecosystem where children plant physical seeds, nurture a digital garden, and learn about growth through collective play.
THE QUESTION
What if learning about an ecosystem began by touching, planting, and caring?
The project began as a climate canvas: children would place weather-shaped objects such as clouds and suns on a wall, triggering rain or light across a projected garden. The aim was to connect physical action with visible environmental change.
As the concept developed, the experience focused on planting and nurturing. Physical seed pods became the bridge between a child’s action and a digital life cycle—turning an abstract ecological relationship into an immediate, shared event.
HOW IT UNFOLDS
A small garden that grows through curiosity and collective care.
PLANT
Sensors recognize the action and the projected world responds by introducing a corresponding plant.
NURTURE
Weather, flowers, insects, and changing animations invite children to keep experimenting with the ecosystem.
GROW TOGETHER
Multiple children can gather around the installation, observe one another, and collectively build a lively garden.
DESIGN THROUGH ITERATION
Three rounds of testing reshaped the relationship between body, object, and projection.
SHIFT THE TECH
Technical constraints led the team from computer vision toward more dependable Arduino-based sensing.
LOWER THE ACTION
Museum playtests showed that interaction points were too high, so the physical controls moved into children’s reach.
PROTECT THE VIEW
Because bodies blocked the display, the interaction and projection areas were reorganized to keep actions and feedback visible.
FOLLOW CURIOSITY
Children preferred tangible elements and bold storybook visuals, leading to simpler graphics and richer insects, seeds, and flowers.
WHAT THE PROJECT TAUGHT US
“The children showed us that the physical object was not a controller beside the experience—it was the experience.”
Accessible play
Reachable controls and clearer spatial organization made participation easier for children.
Richer ecosystem
Seeds, flowers, weather, and bees created more reasons to stay, experiment, and return.
Museum exhibition
The final installation drew sustained participation and positive feedback from visitors and museum staff.
EXHIBITION DOCUMENTATION · WATCH THE FULL EXPERIENCE