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Design team previews interactive Civics Lab for Wyoming Capitol
Summary
Designers presented finalized visuals, furniture and interactive concepts for a new Civics Lab inside the Wyoming State Capitol, seeking approvals on graphic systems, furniture builds and a set of micro-interactives while describing plans for durability, maintenance and an educational ‘‘passport’’ experience for visitors and school groups.
Design contractors and Capitol staff presented a near-final build plan for the proposed Civics Lab inside the Wyoming State Capitol, showing how analog and digital interactives, furniture, color and typography will combine to teach visitors — especially schoolchildren — how state government works.
Designers said the project now emphasizes repeatable, maintainable elements: a passport booklet visitors can stamp at each station, small “micro-interactives” that can be serviced or re-skinned with vinyl, and larger two-person analog and digital interactives to explain the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Staff and designers requested approval to send furniture and selected interactive designs to engineering for production.
Why it matters: The Civics Lab is intended as a public-facing education space tied to school curricula and to broaden access to state government. Presenters said the design aims to be playful and durable, balancing hands-on experiences for children with deeper digital role-play interactives for older students and adults.
Design highlights and approvals sought Designers walked the subcommittee through the room’s zones and show-and-tell items: a ‘‘welcome’’ central station with a short onboarding video and a passport distribution point; a “how to get involved” wall featuring an illustrated map that lets visitors drag a car to learn which level of government handles local services; separate stations that treat the legislative, executive and judicial branches; and a ‘‘separation of powers’’ area with a gear-based analog puzzle and role-playing digital interactives.
- Micro-interactives: Small, low-cost mechanical elements (sliders, reveal disks, rotating windows) intended to draw children’s hands to the walls. Designers said they will be engineered for durability and easy refresh — usually by replacing vinyl or a graphic sheet rather than rebuilding structure.
- Passport and takeaways: A printed, accordion-fold passport will let visitors collect embossing stamps at stations. Designers proposed perforations so visitors can keep a copy and deposit another in a mailbox for staff review.
- Executive desk interactive: A tabletop touchscreen paired with removable artifact-like objects (representations of elected offices) that visitors place on the surface to trigger tailored animations and explanations of roles and overlaps between offices.
- Legislative and judicial interactives: A large tile-slider that physically reveals a map-style infographic about how a bill becomes law, and a two-player legislative role-play game that simulates debate, compromise and voting.
Durability, maintenance and updates Designers emphasized maintenance planning: static panels use a vinyl-on-acrylic approach that allows panels to be refreshed by removing and replacing vinyl. For micro-interactives they will provide owner’s manuals and replacement files (creative and vendor specs) so the Capital’s operations staff or a local vendor can update content without returning to the original contractor.
Seating, capacity and accessibility Presenters said the lab’s layout targets a class-size-friendly experience: about 24 students at a comfortable engagement level; rough upper estimates mentioned 40–50 people before experience quality declined. Interactive heights and reach were designed to meet ADA reach recommendations for school-age children where practical.
Next steps and scheduling Designers asked the subcommittee to approve the graphic system, furniture finishes and the suite of micro-interactives so the team can move those items into engineering and procurement. Digital content and the passport will be completed as writing is finalized and the interactive software is developed.
Quotes "We're in optimization mode — we're getting feedback on how guests are using them," said a designer presenting the system. "Everything that we provide, we will include a maintenance plan should something break." (Design team representative)
Ending The subcommittee did not take a formal vote during the meeting. Staff agreed to circulate final files in the project’s file-stage for one week of review and will return to the subcommittee with updated cost and procurement details as items move into engineering.
