The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) is a ground-breaking immersive venue, located in five historic buildings in the heart of Washington, D.C., just a stone’s throw from the White House.
The nonpartisan MCAAD is an educational organization dedicated to health, financial awareness, philanthropy, and the key challenges facing the wider world. It occupies 70,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, taking advantage of immersive and interactive AV experiences for visitors to explore stories that are relevant to our times.
As part of this immersive-driven approach, the idea of a real-life LED Holodeck was proposed, an LED-clad room supported with audio. As in any public space, safety concerns were a driving force, such as weight and space restrictions and entry and egress control for visitors to come and go safely, all needing to be executed within the usual constraints of historical buildings.
This holodeck concept became the Kenneth C. Griffin Holodeck Experience. It came to life through a tight technical partnership between 4Wall Entertainment and TAIT to provide the palette and infrastructure, with Moment Factory providing creative direction and content, filling the screens with their inimitable style of storytelling through the Perpetual Story Machine.
On the technical side, TAIT collaborated with an array of vendors to provide a bespoke aluminum and steel box-within-a-box to support the LED tiles and operate the Holodeck doors safely even in the event of power failure or other emergencies. The structure and its control system were designed and constructed in TAIT’s Haverhill factory in Suffolk, UK, before being integrated by the TAIT Lititz, PA team alongside other vendors on site in Washington, D.C.
4Wall was the lead systems integrator, overseeing the technical side in terms of video, audio, and control for the entire MCAAD complex. For the signature Holodeck walls, 4Wall went with a CreateLED product that stays cool to the touch, supported by key processing by MegaPixel; Disguise VX3 are the media servers.
Content-wise this multi-room interactive attraction combines immersive storytelling, innovative technology, and interactive gameplay to bring the essence of the American Dream to life.
The journey unfolds in stages, starting with an interactive game where guests repair the machine’s broken mechanics to prevent its precious stories from disappearing. They then enter the core of the magical device and travel through different eras and across America, encountering first-person accounts inspired by true events. Each story immerses them in a unique environment with a distinct aesthetic.
