USA recently completed an eight-foot, outdoor, LED cube display, installed at the Kimmel Center to kick off the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. The Cube, as we affectionately call it, was conceptualized by Red Tettemer and Edwards Technologies, Inc. as advertising for the festival and was brought to life by USA to remain a permanent fixture at the Kimmel Center. Our scope of work included management, design, engineering, fabrication of the steel framework, integration of the LED display components and installation. USA started the project by taking a careful site survey of the dedicated space for dimensions and wind load assessment at the corner of Spruce and Broad Street, just down the street from City Hall. We took the lead role in providing the project team with drawings, material specifications, outdoor site conditions, engineering calculations and stamps to certify that control documents met all safety standards and the piece would be structurally sound.

The LED walls are made with 72 interlinked LED panels that are each one foot square. The panels had a very tight tolerance and a long lead time, so our 3,000 pounds of steel fabrication had to be fabricated to exact and square dimensions without having the LED panels in hand. USA’s certified welders worked to build and check the framework step by step, creating solid and square connections that were critical to incorporate the other components seamlessly.

When it came to installation, USA worked with George Young Company (they moved the Liberty Bell too) for hoisting the cube from our truck to its final destination. We mapped out the installation plan together with careful planning to process and safety. Installation started at 5am on a Saturday morning and the Cube was complete and running before noon that same day. Just in time for a celebratory team lunch in the heart of downtown Philadelphia!

Working with Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk, and Workshop Design in Kansas City, USA prototyped and design engineered the Energy Lab^® exhibit in 2009; completing fabrication and installation as turnkey primary contractor in November 2010!

USA started off by prototyping the exhibit concepts with particular attention to the use of environmentally friendly materials, function, durability, and ADA standards. This created a solid foundation for understanding the designs and allowed us to move quickly as a team through production drawings and fabrication. The USA team also managed, design engineered, built and installed all of the main exhibit structures, water and interactive components. The completed space is now home to approximately 20 custom fitted pieces focusing on the concept of Energy in three distinct theme areas of solar, wind and water.

Activity at each area is interconnected using balls that travel throughout the entire space from one exhibit area to another. Kids can start their ball path on a solar powered lift and follow it along the connected exhibits through water raceways, ball launchers, air powered ball mazes, a water wheel and a six-foot tall water vortex. This exciting new area is a high impact environment that encourages children to play and learn about the energy around them!

Photo Credits: Greenhouse Media and Thomas McGovern

Thank you to MAAM for holding this year’s show in our hometown!

It’s been a very busy fall at USA. As the leaves change so do the projects!

We are very excited to share with you all the latest news, including information about our exhibit design, prototyping, fabrication and much more.

Be sure to stop by Booth #2 for a closer look at what the Philadelphia locals have to offer!

Thanks, ASTC! For hosting in Hawaii this year!

The Association of Science-Technology Centers annual conference in being held at the Hawaii Convention Center, 1801 Kalakaua Avenue in Honolulu this fall. Exhibit Hall hours are Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

We’re really looking forward to seeing all of our old friends from the community and making some new contacts in Hawaii. Find our more about all of USA’s interactive exhibit services, including model design and fabrication; exhibit design and fabrication; prototyping; and our exhibit maintenance and service contracts, at Booth #610.

We look forward to seeing you there.

True to his “I can do anything”-attitude, Anwar wears his favorite t-shirt which states: “I am the solution.” This t-shirt comes from the Stepping Stones Museum for Children’s Conservation Quest traveling exhibit, a series of exhibits geared towards educating children about the daily choices they can make to conserve energy.

If you visit our facility or have work delivered or installed by USA, the chances are pretty good that you will have the pleasure of meeting Anwar Neal. Since coming to USA, Anwar has quickly found a place on nearly every project that comes through our shop; and his ready smile and enthusiasm always brings the team spirit up.

Anwar Neal grew up in Yeadon not too far from USA’s location in Colwyn. In his youth, he was very active in athletics – from soccer to ice hockey to BMX biking and football. In association with these activities, Anwar travelled the US and Europe for the international high school soccer team and competitively for BMX racing.

After working in carpentry and roofing and as foreman of a lumber yard, Anwar decided to join the United States Marines Corps in 2004 at age 27, and began his training at Parris Island in South Carolina. The rigorous Marine Corps training refined Anwar’s attention to detail, personal presentation, and respectful demeanor in communicating with others. After Parris Island, Anwar went to the Aberdeen Proving Ground for manual machinist training. Anwar’s class was the first Marines Corps group to be trained on CNC equipment. Anwar completed his stateside service and training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

After serving during OIF7, Anwar joined the USA team in January of 2007.

Anwar came to USA ready to soak up more new skills and immediately became instrumental in the organization and production of our flight simulators, gear products and Medical products. With the same curiosity and open-mindedness that he approaches everything else, Anwar is continuing his machinist training at USA, has honed his welding skills here and is currently our main in-house welder. His quickness, positive outlook, attention to detail and problem solving skills also make him a valuable player on our installation teams, in which he often participates.

Anwar is also frequently responsible for safe packing and delivery of our exhibits in our company truck, and we have seen measureable improvement in our shipping and delivery services since Anwar has joined us. Nearly every customer comments on Anwar’s helpfulness and disposition, and USA is happy to send him out as our representative in any situation.

Anwar is also the proud father of two boys, Alex (9) and Isaiah (11). Both boys are straight A students and Isaiah has already expressed an interested in the naval academy – like father, like son!

USA Vice President Mike Myers and several other professional in the field were recently interviewed by their colleagues at Hands On! Inc. for an article about the complexities behind the idea of “green” as they have been experienced by more than two dozen museum professionals and exhibition designers. The article appeared in Exhibitionist magazine, a publication by the National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME).

The complete article, “Splinters from Green Materials: Conversations about the Frictions of Green Exhibition Design,” can be read here:
http://www.hofl.org/images/HandsOnSplintersGreenNAME.pdf

Other articles from the “Lean and Green” issue of Exhibitionist can be read here:
http://name-aam.org/resources/exhibitionist/back-issues-and-online-archive#Spring2009

In response to our clients’ growing need for Field Service and Maintenance Support, USA has recently expanded its Technical Support Services (TSS) Department. Our goal is to provide faster and more inclusive services to both museum and corporate clients.

USA has over 35 years of experience in the design, engineering and fabrication of interactive exhibits. We understand the importance of keeping your interactive exhibits and displays operational. You want your models to look clean and up-to-date and you want to minimize exhibit downtime while working within your organizational budgets.

We offer service in three areas:

• Warranty Service
• Field Service & Support
• Long Term Maintenance

The TSS Process at USA ensures our clients a cost-effective and timely response to their service needs, including service to exhibits built by others and USA’s own exhibits and products. Our simple-to-use Field Service Request (FSR) form helps clients to quickly and clearly communicate their service request and subsequently, facilitate our prompt response to the problem.

Our Field Service & Support and Long Term Maintenance service is tailored in a tiered-fashion to your project’s requirements and your available organizational resources for internal support. Levels of support services include:

• Telephone and/or Email Support
• Supplying Off-the-Shelf and Custom Parts
• On-Site Assessment Visits
• On-Site Technical Support

USA’s TSS personnel can work independently or alongside your support personnel. Some service may require the exhibit or model to be returned to our facility to perform the required work.

USA also re-engineers and refurbishes exhibits originally built by others. Our seasoned exhibit technicians have restored and updated many “old” non-functioning exhibits to “like new” operating conditions.

We work with diverse clients with varied internal capacity for technical support and long-term maintenance. From the smallest interpretive center to the large children’s museum with thousands of young and rambunctious visitors daily, USA’s Technical Support Services has been successful in designing and implementing long-term maintenance programs to fit our client’s needs.

Please contact our Technical Support Services Manager, Gil Weiss, at gilweiss@verizon.net to discuss how we can assist you with your next exhibit maintenance issue.

In June of 2009, USA, Inc. and Bally Design made a winning joint presentation for the refurbishment and redesign of the Centre County/Penn State Visitor Center for the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau (CPCVB), located in State College, Pennsylvania.

The Center operates as self-guided tour with 100,000 visitors a year. CPCVB’s goal with this contract was to update the exhibits installed in the visitor center ten years earlier and to integrate the new brand strategy into the visitor center experience.

Incorporating the CPCVB brand focuses on three primary themes—“Tour, Roar and Explore”—to highlight major tourist attractions and activities. The concept “Tour” refers to the many cultural, historic and community activities visitors can enjoy in the region. “Roar” is the roar of the Nittany Lion, mascot of Penn State University, whose main campus is in State College, home to over 40,000 students. Penn State is, therefore, a major employer and tourist draw to the area as thousands of fans and alumni flock to the region to cheer on their favorite teams and support their alma mater. The prime location of the visitor center and its optimal view of Mt. Nittany served as the perfect backdrop for the third theme element, “Explore”, which is intended to highlight the many outdoor activities – from hiking and biking to boating and fishing and spelunking – that are possible in Centre County.

The CPCVB requested to reuse or refurbish some of the elements from the original visitor center design to support working within the available budget. The main features of the existing design were five large architectural elements and graphics evocative of local historic buildings. USA and Bally saw that these three components could be repurposed to open up the space and improve visitor flow in coordination with new design elements. The result is open, airy and modern.

USA acted as the Prime Contractor for this project and managed the design development process from start to finish; CPCVB developed the written copy for the entire facility. A custom interactive map kiosk was developed in coordination with Bally Design for visitors to plan their trip to Central PA.

An interactive fiber optics exhibit highlights the region’s annual fireworks display, one of the largest in the country. This exhibit was designed from concept to execution by USA through brainstorming sessions with CPCVB and Bally Design.

Large murals and photos are a frequent asset in regional visitor center’s presentation to the public: beautiful full color or historic photos entice people to get out and see what the location has to offer. Bally’s graphic treatment of the space included new environmental murals, historic photographs, and informative text panels. Fifteen digital picture frames were also employed, giving the client the ability to change the images or news whenever they desired. The result is a fun, bright and active space that entices visitors to get out there and Tour, Roar and Explore.

The installation was made more complicated by the reuse and repurposing of some large exhibit elements and the resurfacing of existing wall structure. USA phased the decommissioning of the gallery, completed site construction, and installed shop-built exhibits over a period of two months. USA transformed the gallery into a self-guided visitors’ experience with adventure, history, and an enlightened view of the area. The project was completed on time and under budget.

The Centre County/Penn State Visitor Center held an opening ceremony celebration on June 29th.

USA is pleased to announce we has been awarded the exhibit work for Energy Lab at Stepping Stones Museum for Children!

When completed this fall, Energy Lab will be an exciting mix of water, wind, solar, non-renewable and kinetic components integrated into a unique and immersive learning experience. Stepping Stones is designing the experience in association with Workshop Design, based out of Kansas City, Missouri. Check USA’s blog in the coming months for construction progress updates.

Zoos and aquariums can enhance their visitors’ understanding of the animals they exhibit with interactive exhibits and graphics. This encourages visitors to transfer their appreciation of the animals they see to promoting conservation measures within their daily lives once they leave the museum.

In the fall of 2009, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach completed a lengthy 25 million renovation which included 110,000 gallons of new aquariums, the renovation of some existing habitats, and the addition of interactive exhibits, flip books and way finding and animal identification graphics. The Aquarium remained open during the entire construction period.

USA was awarded the exhibit contract for the Virginia Aquarium in spring of 2007 and was responsible for 100% of the exhibits portion of this project. In early conversations with the designers and Client, we evaluated that many of the concepts as drawn in the bid package were not the best use of materials or technology to tell the museum’s content stories. The museum decided to undertake a Design Development phase where these ideas were discussed and prototyping from Fall 2007 through Winter 2008.

After this Design Development phase, Fabrication proceeded quickly through summer of 2008. Installation was complete 30 days before the aquarium’s public grand opening of the Restless Planet exhibits on Nov 21, 2009.