Constellation Energy Visitor Center Virtual Tours

Exelon

Baltimore, MD

Creative, intuitive, and image-oriented explorations of complex systems

The Ask

Constellation Energy  wanted to explain the intricacies of the energy trading process in a way that guests to their new visitor center could easily comprehend.

The Journey

Dive deep into their process to understand the actors, tools, and resources, and craft custom-tailored digital stories to present highly-complex systems in a simplified way. Use interaction patterns specifically designed to complement live, presenter-led tours and conversational flow.

The Solution

Two interactive applications to help visitors understand the depth and sophistication of this trading operation, at both facility-specific and regionwide levels.

An interactive, self-guided virtual tour

The primary visitor center interactive is a site-specific gigapixel panorama of the trading floor itself, deployed on a large permanent touchscreen. We shot and stitched a custom panoramic photo that highlights the different stations and explains their function in the energy trading process.

Two visitors to the customer experience center interact with the self-guided virtual facility tour on the touchscreen interface.

The virtual tour opened up inaccessible areas to visitors, giving them insights and context befitting of VIPs.

A wide shot of the energy trading floor overlook showing the large touchscreen and self-guided virtual facility tour.

The touchscreen-based application features an annotated, gigapixel panoramic image that reflects what visitors can see directly in front of them on the trading floor.

A detailed view of the gigapixel panoramic image on teh self-guided virtual facility tour.

Key locations on the floor are tappable for short explanations.

A picture is worth a thousand words

The photo is at such high resolution that visitors can pinch-zoom in to see what is displayed on various monitors at the desks of each station. Each station has a rich explanation (including imagery and video media) of the functions of key trading desks and the roles they play in energy trading.

A view of the energy trading floor showing the extreme detail in the gigapixel panoramic view.

The resolution of the gigapixel image was so fine that visitors felt like they were on the floor itself.

A close-up view of a visitor exploring the illustrated interactive facility map.

An illustrated regional tour

The other interactive is tablet-based, designed for use in conference rooms throughout the building. An interactive digital illustration of a hypothetical city showcases real-world Constellation case studies.

Constellation uses this interactive in face-to-face meetings and briefings to discuss their various capabilities and efforts in the local region and beyond. It has become both an effective tool for tours as well as for business development.

These two interactives let docents and customer experience center visitors explore Constellation’s capabilities and impact, driven by visitors’ own interests and curiosity.

An image of the touchscreen and self-guided virtual facility tour overlooking the energy trading floor.
An exterior shot of the Exelon building which houses the experience center.