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City on Fire: Chicago 1871

For the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, the Chicago History Museum wanted to bring the stories and experiences to life in their new exhibit City on Fire: Chicago 1871. The exhibition is an immersive look into all aspects of the fire, from the dry season that preceded it, to the families who were affected, to the relief and aid efforts after the embers died down. CHM wanted to approach this immersive experience with multiple techniques, both tactile and digital. Turning to the digital story-telling pros at Balance to design and develop two of the interactives – The Cyclorama Touchtable and What Now? Interactive.

Cyclorama Touchtable

Multi-Gestural Table Application

The Chicago Fire Cyclorama was the original immersive experience, this 50-ft x 400-ft painting was displayed inside of a round building in downtown Chicago for the 1893 World’s Fair The scale of this 360º vista has meticulous detail of the fire that quickly overtook this huge city. However, the original cyclorama has long since been destroyed. Displaying a 40-ft replica, visitors were able to see a similar experience, but not get the full emotional impact of the destruction. Balance crafted a unique vantage point using a touchtable that allowed the user to zoom into each scene of the destruction and explore several thought provoking statements, getting a closer than ever look at this historic event.

When visitors tap into the experience, they are given different scenes to explore. Each selection takes them further into the painting. Within the scenes, there are several additional zoom points that once selected, offer things to look for in this grand painting. Visitors are able to explore the painting like never before and connect to the stories of people fleeing burning buildings, escaping on boats, homes being destroyed, and more.

What Now? Interactive

Touch Screen Application

Designed to highlight the inherent inequality of the time, Balance created What Now?, a thoughtful and poignant user experience. What Now? allows users to experience what many families were going through after the fire had absolutely ripped through their towns and their livelihoods. After the fire, the Relief and Aid Society worked to provide help to everyone impacted, but the charity could only go so far.

Using an illustrative style of animation, visitors are introduced to the diversity of Chicago. Answering the short, five-question quiz, visitors quickly learn how little could affect the amount of aid you receive. Answering easy questions such as the size of their family, whether their parents are immigrants, and if they go to church or not, visitors are provided additional information that highlights the injustices and inequality of the system. When the quiz is completed, the visitor is given their result and learns why they got more, or less, aid from the society.

The Idea

How do you address tragic historical events while staying focused on edu-tainment? You focus on the story. Whether it's diving into a painting deeper than you ever thought possible or exploring how your family might have, or have not, received aid after losing everything in a fire, we hone in on the story's message with every detail.

Services

Combining life-long learning and entertainment is our team’s passion. We thrive on collaboration and always get fired up for every project, ensuring your story gets the love it deserves!

The Result

Becoming one of the most popular exhibits in the building, our interactives immersed visitors in 1871 and helped them connect with the past in a new way.