Planetariums

“A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is the large dome-shaped projection screen onto which scenes of stars, planets and other celestial objects can be made to appear and move realistically to simulate the complex 'motions of the heavens'.” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetarium)

One of the planetariums that I thought was very interesting was the Adler Planetarium based in Chicago, (www.adlerplanetarium.org). This was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest one in existence today.

One of the main things that I like about this planetarium in particular is the way that they are constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and really creating an immersive environment.

An example of this is the “Definiti Space Theatre” This provides the user with an exciting experience in a virtual reality environment that launches them into the outer reaches of space.
This concept if very similar to what I am trying to achieve. In particular the layout of the seats, which are in a semi circler shape. This is along the same lines of my core idea, thus creating a social and educational learning environment.