NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RURAL LIFE CASE STUDY
PROJECT To create an immersive, interpretative honeybee experience for an undefined space.
CASE STUDY The National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride explores agricultural history through land, tools and people, linking farming practices to biodiversity and the environment. NMORL now has a new focal point – their beehive – and a newly defined space, dedicated to honeybees.
SERVICES We created an exhibit where each part works independently but all contribute to the whole. Spaces are bridged by window graphics showing seasonal changes in a honeybee’s environment. Panels explain the behaviour around the hive, visible through the window. Our interactive theme continues with dress-up boxes and video from real hives encouraging children to become a bee and join in the “waggle dance”. A ‘head through the hole’ board is a playful piece of visual marketing to promote NMORL’s tag, #ruralbees.
BENEFITS Over the school holidays we introduced many children to the world of the honey bee as an experience. Visitors were given a close-up and intimate view of honeybees in our observation hive while our beekeepers answered questions. NOMRL visitors can ‘Adopt-a-Bee’ by purchasing adoption certificates, naming ‘their’ bee and adding it to an indoor version of the museum’s hive. This increases visits to the shop and encourages patrons to return to see ‘their’ honeybees, giving greater public engagement with the project. • • •
Geo-cache trail with clues on honeysticks takes visitors round the museum Exciting “live” exhibit for children and adults to experience. Fun and educational way to explain importance of pollinators
Plan Bee Ltd 3/3 Etna Estate, Clamp Road Motherwell, Scotland, ML2 7XQ
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