LEGO EDUCATION

MISSION RE-IGNITION

PROJECT SUMMARY

After 2 years of remote conferences and classes a return to in-person events at ISTELive 2022 invited teachers to not only re-engage with each other but also to rethink how they could engage with students returning to the classroom. This presented a unique opportunity to educate the educators on how the LEGO Learning System utilizes learning-through-play principles to teach core STEAM subjects in a hands-on, fun, and engaging manner.

Drawing inspiration from LEGO Education’s successful Mission to Launch program with NASA we created Mission Re-Ignition, an immersive escape room style experience that took teachers on a mission to the moon where they completed a series of thematic timed challenges utilizing LEGO Learning System sets. The experience included an airlock (with lighting and cryo-blast effects), a walk across the surface of the “moon”, three moon-bases packed with LEGO sets and scientific gear, and custom animated intros featuring the LEGO Space Team Minifigures. Over 4 days hundreds of educators took part in the mission and reignited their passion for hands-on in-person learning.

Agency:
XD Agency

Role:
Creative Director, Concept Development, Experience Flow, Layout, Scenic & Environmental Design, 3D Modeling & Renders

OVERVIEW VIDEO

PROCESS

From briefing to go-live we had a little under two months to develop and build the entire activation. The client came to us with with an idea to create an escape room and the existing NASA partnership, using that as a springboard I led a workshop with the client team that allowed us to quickly and collaboratively define the scope, parameters, and overall flow of the experience. From there I developed a detailed guest journey for the entire 30 minute experience that defined storyline and each touchpoint from the queue through registration, mission briefing, the moon base, team ratings & rankings, and the post mission de-brief. The LEGO Education team developed the challenges within the moon base utilizing the LEGO Education system and products.

Moving three teams of five+ guests through the experience without overlapping required extensive pre-planning. Working with the client and production teams I created a thorough training manual for the crew members running the experience with information on each position, scripts, and radio queues to coordinate handoffs across the different touchpoints of the experience.

The location we were assigned at the convention center, an interior windowless ballroom, presented a unique opporunity. With full control over the lighting I took inspiration from dark rides to blackout the room and turn it into the surface of the moon through the use of custom printed lunar surface flooring, lighting effects, spacey music, and AC cranked as cold as possible. Inspired by the unique tunnel-like architecture of the entrances I designed "airlocks" which served as an experiential transition where guests were "launched" from and to the earth while also creating a double door to minimize light leaks when guests stepped out onto the moon. Within the ballroom I placed three domes which functioned as the lunar base escape rooms, allowing us to cycle through three teams at a time without overlapping their moonwalks. The domes themselves were rented and filled with off-the-shelf lab equipment and fixtures which helped us stay within budget and on the tight timeline while creating a premium experience.