Our design is always led by narrative. St. Elmo is a unique location, both for its architecture and history. Throughout our design and interpretation, we kept in mind that the fort itself is the main exhibit. Exploring its development and history and the thrill of walking around its walls were the main objectives of the visitor experience.

The first section of Room O is a semi-dark audio-visual space, with a free standing slab structure, slightly resembling part of the fortress wall, acting as a projection surface.

Moving past the projection wall, visitors find themselves in a central area. A second section of fortress wall gives an impression of almost being enclosed in St. Elmo at the time of the siege. The two walls hold objects and graphics that explore the fateful weeks of the siege, told from two points of view- those inside and outside the walls.

Visitors move into a second audio-visual space, similar in layout to the first, but offering a very different, interactive experience.  Against a slowly moving background of big scenes from the d’ Aleccio frescoes, visitors use interactive screens to ‘zoom in’ on characters from the scene and find out more about them. Each person can choose their own level of engagement with the drama, visual spectacle, real objects and interaction.

As visitors find themselves in the object displays space, the walls work a mixed media installation with large scale quotes and graphics, more detailed text panels and objects from the relevant army set into open or glass cases beside them.

The mini-galleries that follow, within a day-lit area and partitioned by a new wall and entrance, cover a great sweep of over two hundred years of history. Using high quality printing onto transparent film, the windows act as big light box illustrations, setting a visual tone for each mini-gallery. In the passageway created by the partition wall, a timeline runs the whole length of the space.

Having explored the mini-galleries, visitors have the chance to relax in a lounge space and enjoy the view from the window.