Thinkwell Group, announces its involvement in the development and opening of the new visitor centre experience at the Wahat Al Karama Memorial for fallen heroes in Abu Dhabi.
Thinkwell designed and produced the new Visitor Center, which highlights the values and stories of the UAE’s fallen heroes through detailed exhibits, artifact curation, interactive technologies, and digital media experiences.
The Wahat Al Karama Visitor Center offers guests from around the world an opportunity to connect with the deep and powerful stories that are embedded in the Wahat Al Karama Memorial and the lives of the soldiers, civil servants, and Emiratis it honors. Thinkwell Group, a global experience design and production agency, provided a wide range of services to design the new Visitor Center exhibits, including the initial concept development, guest experience design, interior design, artifact curation, and multimedia development as well as production, installation, and technical implementation.
The Wahat Al Karama Memorial is comprised of thirty-one massive aluminum-clad, inscribed tablets that support each other and symbolize the unity, solidarity, and mutual values of the nation, its military and civil servicemen, and its fallen heroes. The new Visitor Center Experience offers an opportunity to further explore the monument’s message of service and support.
While visiting the Center, guests can discover the history of the UAE’s Commemoration Day for fallen heroes and its impact on the creation of Wahat Al Karama through engaging media and digital touch screens with the names, stories, and legacies of the men and women who died in service to the country. An interactive recreation of the Memorial Plaza reflecting pool allows visitors to engage with the values represented by the UAE and its national heroes, while additional exhibits, touch tables, and media elements highlight the UAE’s involvement in numerous peacekeeping and humanitarian outreach programs in the region and around the world. A partial replica of the Memorial comes to life with interactive media stations that allow guests to explore the translations and contextual interpretations of the leaning tablets’ many inscriptions. Visitors can also create their own bas relief rubbings of their favorite tablet inscriptions, sign the Memorial’s digital guest book, and share a photo of their experience with a message of pride that can be sent digitally and shared on social media. An immersive media room concludes the experience, leaving guests with a message of hope and an opportunity to explore the Wahat Al Karama pavilion interior through a final set of interactive touch screen tablets.
“Wahat Al Karama is a powerful place, and the new Visitor Center aims to give guests a deeper context and connection to the Memorial. Our design work and the exhibits created in partnership with our client teams provide new avenues for visitors from around the world to interact with the Memorial and learn about the UAE, its values, and its heroes in an inspiring and lasting way,” says Kate McConnell, Thinkwell’s Senior Creative Director on the project.
The Wahat Al Karama Visitor Center opened on November 30th, 2017, with UAE leadership from all seven Emirates in attendance to mark the third annual National Commemoration Day in the UAE. It will serve as the site of national ceremonies throughout the year and on future Commemoration Days.
“It has been an honor and a privilege working with the client teams and vendors in the UAE on this endeared project. Our goal is that the stories told through the emotional journey of the visitor center will enhance the immense sense of pride that Wahat Al Karama brings to the UAE and the region for many years to come,” says Amin Rashmani, Managing Director for Thinkwell EMEA.
