Singapore Odyssea - National Museum of Singapore

2025

Singapore Odyssea globe Singapore Odyssea ramp Singapore Odyssea drum Singapore Odyssea transition

Singapore Odyssea is an interactive exhibit aiming to take visitors on a journey through Singapore’s history, housed in the National Museum of Singapore. It features four distinct sections: an LED globe, a spiral ramp, a cylindrical “drum” room, and a final “transition zone” leading out into the history gallery of the museum.

The globe

The globe in Singapore Odyssea was (I believe) the first LED globe to be used in an installation in Singapore. It plays a video on loop, showing the various trade routes to/from Singapore, and the names Singapore has had over its history.

The spiral ramp

The “spiral ramp” or the “vortex ramp” is a long downwards spiral, with projections along the entire outer wall. At the beginning of the experience, visitors would have chosen a wristband from a selection of three different colours, which pays off here - these wristbands have BLE and RFID chips embedded in them, and an animal companion will spawn on the wall for every visitor, corresponding to the colour of their wristband. They will follow the visitors down the ramp, triggering special interactions according to their colour. The wristbands have BLE chips inside them, allowing them to broadcast their position along the ramp to BLE anchors hidden along the slope.

Yes, the calibration and calculation were a nightmare to set up and troubleshoot, thank you for asking.

The “base drum”

After leaving the ramp, visitors enter the “base drum”. Which is not what it’s actually called, because the sections are not officially named, but internally, we called it the “base drum” or just the “drum”. This is a cylindrical room (like a drum) with projections wrapping the full wall and an LED floor, showing scenes near or at the Singapore coastline. In its inactive state, a waterfall obscures the visuals on the walls, but once a visitor steps close, the water parts to reveal the visuals beneath.

Like most other applications in the experience, the drum app was built in Unreal Engine. Embedded in the LED floor are optical sensors, which send the app coordinates where any sensor is blocked (i.e. by a visitor’s shoe), allowing the app to calculate where the visitors are standing, and part the waterfall or spawn ripples in the water floor accordingly, and interact with little props on the floor. Visitors seem to especially like “kicking” around floating coconuts in the night scene.

The “transition zone”

This section features two hardware “props”, a well with an LED screen, and a long LED wall. In the room’s inactive state, the LED wall plays a looping video of a giant crab asleep underwater. Visitors will tap their wristbands against glowing lights (RFID readers) embedded in the rim of the well, “releasing” their companions back into the wild. Once enough companions are released, the companions wake up the crab, triggering the LED wall to play a show.

I was the interactive producer on this project, working alongside Natalie Ong, who was the creative producer. Over the course of the project, I:

  • Assisted with budget allocation, timeline planning, and resource coordination
  • Conducted on-site testing
  • Maintained project documentation
  • Acted as a point of contact between the internal team, our clients, and the external hardware integration team
  • Coordinated with hardware engineers to align software development with physical installation requirements
  • Ensured alignment with client goals and technical feasibility throughout the production lifecycle

Full team:

  • Creative Director: Joshua Tan
  • Interactive Director: Leon Lim
  • Creative Producer: Natalie Ong
  • Interactive Producer: Rhine Goh
  • Onboarding video
    • Lead Artist: Jared Tay
    • Motion Design: Jared Tay
    • Title Animation: Pok Simloong
    • 3D Animation: Tan Pei Hong
    • Asset Creation: Luqi Li, Alden Law, Kristen Png
    • Music and Sound Design: Zaliqah Irdyani
  • Globe
    • Lead Artist: Jared Tay
    • Motion Design: Jared Tay
    • Music and Sound Design: Zahin Anwari
  • Ramp
    • Lead Artist: Kenny Chow
    • 3D Asset Creation: Kenny Chow, Luqi Li, Lin Shulin, Stefani Hanna, Studio Ulu
    • Animation: Kenny Chow, Luqi Li
    • Illustrator: Tang Xiao Ming, Alvin Phua
    • Interactive Development: Iffat Jehan, Amirul Hakim
    • Music and Sound Design: Zahin Anwari, Racha Soh
  • Drum
    • Lead Artists: Khoo Yi Hui, Grey Pham
    • 3D Asset Creation: Khoo Yi Hui, Grey Pham, Kristen Png, Jeremiah Hosana, Vanessa Lim, Lin Shulin, Ethan Yap, Stefani Hanna
    • Character Animation: Benjamin Lee, Tan Pei Hong, Park Yun Eun
    • Interactive Development: Elnathan Hung, Emmanuel Lim, Jayden Low
    • Music and Sound Design: Zahin Anwari
  • Transition zone
    • Motion Design: Jared Tay
    • Animation (main video): Finding Pictures
    • Animation (companion release): Luqi Li
    • Interactive Development: Aizuddin Amin, Dean Duan
    • Music and Sound Design: Jonathan Leong