GPD: Sailing towards history

Twenty years after taking center stage at the 1992 Seville Expo, the Navigation Pavilion morphs into one of the Andalusian capital's major exhibitions and congress venues.

Back in 1992, the Navigation Pavilion was hailed as the Seville World Fair's most innovative construction. Twenty years on, the building stands as a major exhibitions and congress center looking out across the Guadalquivir River.

True to the company's line of interactive museography, GPD (watch corporate video) has come up with a permanent exhibition that blends seamlessly with the pavilion's original architecture. The complexity of transatlantic navigation and the adventures of the seafarers who sailed the oceans in search of new horizons combine to tell an exciting tale (and with no architectural barriers).

The visitor's senses are stimulated by a sea of LED lighting, an ocean of infinite light that illuminates the navigators' exploits. Immersed in this tale, visitors learn about the real-life, flesh-and-blood men and women who took part in these adventures and are privy to their hopes and desires.

The large wave of light carries the visitor towards a mural that recounts the history of navigation. The planks of a colossal ship make up the graphic outer skin that tells the visitor about the ingenuity and efforts of men and women who used passion and technology to overcome their fear of the sea. The mural is made up of images, texts and three-dimensional objects enveloped in a blue lyricism from beginning to end.

This narrative sequence ends with the space dedicated to Life on Board. This is the very heart of the pavilion, a place aimed at showing young and aspiring mariners the workings of a vessel. This interactive installation combines information and fun, and lets visitors "take" the ship's wheel or "handle" the rigging, two skills essential to governing a sailing ship. The essence of this video game lies in experimentation and learning. The crowning moment of this journey across time and waters is a tribute to Seville and the river that defines the city. Both are shown in a succession of interactive stations called "Historic Visions" which go through the oldest artistic and technical renderings of a city in which the port has always been and still continues to be its guiding light.