From a radical new way of presenting ancient objects to
a vertical observation wheel and an AI exhibition with a
human touch, NorthernLight likes to do things differently.
Magali Robathan speaks to the director to find out more
Peter Slavenburg launched NorthernLight with Steven Shaeken in 1998 / Photo: Marcel Bakker
In October 2024, Drents Museum in the Netherlands opened Labyrinthia – a radical new way of presenting items from the 170-year-old museum’s collection.
Drents Museum is celebrated for its temporary exhibitions – which have included an exhibition of the Chinese Terracotta Army that drew record numbers of visitors – housed in a modern underground extension.
The original building housing its permanent collection, however, was dated and dusty, and the operators decided it was time for a complete turnaround in the way they presented their collection.
This is where creative design agency NorthernLight came in. The Amsterdam-based agency – headed up by Peter Slavenburg and Steven Schaeken – aims to inspire people to see the world in a new way. Instead of finding a way to exhibit more of the museum’s large collection, the choice was made to exhibit a small number of artefacts and stories, and focus in depth on each one.
“We wanted to help visitors really understand these masterpieces through stories,” Peter Slavenburg tells me, speaking from NorthernLight’s offices in Amsterdam. “Labyrinthia is kind of like a book of fairytales, except that all of the fairytales are true.”
Visitors go on a journey through 15 rooms, with each displaying just a few artefacts, helping them to see the objects in a new way. The famous Pesse canoe – the world’s oldest boat – now has a room to itself, for example, with visitors able to learn about the prehistoric landscape that was around when it was built, and paddle a replica of the canoe through the ancient bog landscape.
“Our strapline is space for new thinking,” says Slavenburg. “Sometimes our experiences are literally about new thinking – it could be about sustainability, or diversity, for example – and sometimes they aim to offer a different perspective on an existing topic. Either way, we don’t want to do what’s already been done.”
No preconceptions A recent project that arguably does both is German science centre Experimenta’s 180sq m Artificial Intelligence Pavilion, which opened in April 2024.
For the team, it is important to always approach each new project without preconceptions. AI can feel quite ‘cold’ as a topic, explains Slavenburg, and the temptation could be to design a futuristic, sci-fi type exhibition.
“We wanted to look at AI from a different angle,” says Slavenburg. “We started with the idea that the source of AI is human. AI exists because humans exist – it’s not an extraterrestrial threat.
“All of a sudden that opened up the option of creating a very human AI exhibition. We aimed to create an experience that allows visitors to interactively engage with the principles of AI in a neutral and friendly way.”
The space has been designed to be as friendly as possible, with a lot of wood and pastel colours, and playful workstations that allow visitors to try out AI applications in a fun way – creating poems and works of art that they can take home.
Future projects Friends Peter Slavenburg and Steven Schaeken launched NorthernLight in 1998, after working together on the development of the NEMO science museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The creative agency designs exhibitions and experiences for brands, museums, science centres and public spaces, with clients including the Tate; Heineken; Shanghai Science & Technology Museum in China; and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The team is currently working on a number of projects, including the World Heritage Centre Wadden Sea in the Dutch fishing village of Lauwersoog, which is due to open in spring 2025. Located in a building designed by Dorte Mandrup, the centre will house an interactive experience highlighting the natural value of the Wadden Sea and the ecological challenges it faces.
Other projects in the works include the Rembrandt & Saskia Experience in St Annaparochie, Netherlands, which will tell the little known love story of artist Rembrandt van Rijn and his wife Saskia Uylenburgh. The immersive experience – which is currently at the masterplanning stage – will include audiovisual technology, a variety of artefacts and an outdoor route taking in locations that were an important part of Rembrandt and Saskia’s love story.
Looking up As space in cities becomes ever harder to find, Slavenburg and the team find themselves increasingly interested in high rise attractions and rooftop experiences.
Spiral Tower is one such attraction. Billed as ‘the most sustainable high-rise attraction in the world,’ it has been conceived as a vertical version of the traditional observation wheel, and will be powered by solar and wind energy.
Developed by Groenendijk Engineering and NorthernLight and now being rolled out together with high rise experts Magnicity – the Spiral Tower features transparent electric passenger cabins spiralling up and down its façade, generating energy on the way down.
“We’re really enthusiastic about this one,” says Slavenburg. “It’s going to be a great attraction, it can be personalised in exciting ways and it will be very sustainable – both because it will generate its own energy and because it requires way less material to build it than a traditional observation tower or wheel.”
The basic concept can be personalised in a number of ways, Slavenburg adds. “The cabins will be equipped with augmented reality screens that tell the stories of the surrounding area. Also the speed of the cabins’ movement can be adjusted, and they can be stopped at various points to take advantage of the views.
“The first Spiral Tower should open within the next two or three years – most likely in South Korea.”
The firm also has a number of projects that aim to make the most of existing rooftop space. In 2016, the NorthernLight-designed Over the Edge swings launched on the top of the A’DAM tower in Amsterdam. The attraction features four red swing seats, offering thrill seekers views of the city from almost 100 metres high.
Following the success of that project, NorthernLight is working on a number of other high rise experiences, including one currently being developed in Budapest, and also regularly launches concepts with the aim of inspiring city planners about the possibilities of high rise experiences. Recent concepts include Panorama Pool, a transparent ring-shaped rooftop swimming pool; the Skyline Mosaic observation deck, featuring coloured mosaic walls that provide unusual views; and Eye in the Sky, which allows visitors to ’walk in the space between the city below and its warped mirror image above.
“We love the idea that rooftops are forgotten places in the urban landscape,” says Slavenburg. “They’ve got such great potential.”
Labyrinthia, Drents Museum, Assen
Opened on October 20, 2024, Labyrinthia is a new collection presentation at Drents Museum, Assen in the Netherlands.
In Labyrinthia, visitors go on a journey of discovery through 15 rooms of the museum. This journey takes in several of the museum’s masterpieces, including the Yde girl (a bog body from the 1st century found in Assen in 1897), the Pesse canoe, and some of Van Gogh’s paintings.
Visitors listen to iconic stories, go on a mammoth hunt, experience the world through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh, and paddle a canoe through the ancient bog landscape. The stories of 15 important artefacts are told in an interactive way that engages all of the senses – multimedia presentations bring history to life and visitors are encouraged to touch, smell, dance, and explore.
Colour, lighting and other effects are used to create atmosphere at Labyrinthia / Photo: Drents Museum/Sake ElzingaElzinga
Visitors can paddle a replica of the Pesse canoe through ancient boglands / Photo: Drents Museum/Sake Elzinga
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2024 issue 4
People: Jess French
The children’s author sees her fantastical creations brought to life at Chester Zoo
Interview: Peter Slavenburg
As Drents Museum in the Netherlands launches a radically new collection presentation, we speak to the designer about doing things differently
Talking point: A helping hand
Attractions industry workers need support more than ever, but is enough being done? We speak to some experts putting wellness and mental health first
Planetarium: Looking up
Bringing people together under the dark skies of Arizona, Lowell Observatory’s new Astronomy Discovery Center is truly unique
Waterpark: Desert Oasis: Qiddiya Aquarabia
The largest waterpark in the Middle East is set to open in Saudi Arabia in 2026, and it’s going to be huge. We speak to the team behind this epic development
Museums: Nintendo Museum: Play on
Giant controllers, consoles operated by visitors’ shadows and a game based on Japanese poems... The Nintendo Museum opens in Kyoto
Technology: Kyle Morrand: The power of play
The CEO of 302 Interactive is using AR, VR and other technologies to solve real world problems, and transform the attractions industry. He shares his game plan
Interview: Dominic Jones
From a game-changing partnership to getting creative with budget technologies, the CEO of the Mary Rose Trust is bringing his commercial nous to the museum world
Research: In the heart of it
City centre attractions are transforming to meet the needs of experience-hungry visitors, but where are they headed next?
From a radical new way of presenting ancient objects to
a vertical observation wheel and an AI exhibition with a
human touch, NorthernLight likes to do things differently.
Magali Robathan speaks to the director to find out more
Peter Slavenburg launched NorthernLight with Steven Shaeken in 1998 / Photo: Marcel Bakker
In October 2024, Drents Museum in the Netherlands opened Labyrinthia – a radical new way of presenting items from the 170-year-old museum’s collection.
Drents Museum is celebrated for its temporary exhibitions – which have included an exhibition of the Chinese Terracotta Army that drew record numbers of visitors – housed in a modern underground extension.
The original building housing its permanent collection, however, was dated and dusty, and the operators decided it was time for a complete turnaround in the way they presented their collection.
This is where creative design agency NorthernLight came in. The Amsterdam-based agency – headed up by Peter Slavenburg and Steven Schaeken – aims to inspire people to see the world in a new way. Instead of finding a way to exhibit more of the museum’s large collection, the choice was made to exhibit a small number of artefacts and stories, and focus in depth on each one.
“We wanted to help visitors really understand these masterpieces through stories,” Peter Slavenburg tells me, speaking from NorthernLight’s offices in Amsterdam. “Labyrinthia is kind of like a book of fairytales, except that all of the fairytales are true.”
Visitors go on a journey through 15 rooms, with each displaying just a few artefacts, helping them to see the objects in a new way. The famous Pesse canoe – the world’s oldest boat – now has a room to itself, for example, with visitors able to learn about the prehistoric landscape that was around when it was built, and paddle a replica of the canoe through the ancient bog landscape.
“Our strapline is space for new thinking,” says Slavenburg. “Sometimes our experiences are literally about new thinking – it could be about sustainability, or diversity, for example – and sometimes they aim to offer a different perspective on an existing topic. Either way, we don’t want to do what’s already been done.”
No preconceptions A recent project that arguably does both is German science centre Experimenta’s 180sq m Artificial Intelligence Pavilion, which opened in April 2024.
For the team, it is important to always approach each new project without preconceptions. AI can feel quite ‘cold’ as a topic, explains Slavenburg, and the temptation could be to design a futuristic, sci-fi type exhibition.
“We wanted to look at AI from a different angle,” says Slavenburg. “We started with the idea that the source of AI is human. AI exists because humans exist – it’s not an extraterrestrial threat.
“All of a sudden that opened up the option of creating a very human AI exhibition. We aimed to create an experience that allows visitors to interactively engage with the principles of AI in a neutral and friendly way.”
The space has been designed to be as friendly as possible, with a lot of wood and pastel colours, and playful workstations that allow visitors to try out AI applications in a fun way – creating poems and works of art that they can take home.
Future projects Friends Peter Slavenburg and Steven Schaeken launched NorthernLight in 1998, after working together on the development of the NEMO science museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The creative agency designs exhibitions and experiences for brands, museums, science centres and public spaces, with clients including the Tate; Heineken; Shanghai Science & Technology Museum in China; and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The team is currently working on a number of projects, including the World Heritage Centre Wadden Sea in the Dutch fishing village of Lauwersoog, which is due to open in spring 2025. Located in a building designed by Dorte Mandrup, the centre will house an interactive experience highlighting the natural value of the Wadden Sea and the ecological challenges it faces.
Other projects in the works include the Rembrandt & Saskia Experience in St Annaparochie, Netherlands, which will tell the little known love story of artist Rembrandt van Rijn and his wife Saskia Uylenburgh. The immersive experience – which is currently at the masterplanning stage – will include audiovisual technology, a variety of artefacts and an outdoor route taking in locations that were an important part of Rembrandt and Saskia’s love story.
Looking up As space in cities becomes ever harder to find, Slavenburg and the team find themselves increasingly interested in high rise attractions and rooftop experiences.
Spiral Tower is one such attraction. Billed as ‘the most sustainable high-rise attraction in the world,’ it has been conceived as a vertical version of the traditional observation wheel, and will be powered by solar and wind energy.
Developed by Groenendijk Engineering and NorthernLight and now being rolled out together with high rise experts Magnicity – the Spiral Tower features transparent electric passenger cabins spiralling up and down its façade, generating energy on the way down.
“We’re really enthusiastic about this one,” says Slavenburg. “It’s going to be a great attraction, it can be personalised in exciting ways and it will be very sustainable – both because it will generate its own energy and because it requires way less material to build it than a traditional observation tower or wheel.”
The basic concept can be personalised in a number of ways, Slavenburg adds. “The cabins will be equipped with augmented reality screens that tell the stories of the surrounding area. Also the speed of the cabins’ movement can be adjusted, and they can be stopped at various points to take advantage of the views.
“The first Spiral Tower should open within the next two or three years – most likely in South Korea.”
The firm also has a number of projects that aim to make the most of existing rooftop space. In 2016, the NorthernLight-designed Over the Edge swings launched on the top of the A’DAM tower in Amsterdam. The attraction features four red swing seats, offering thrill seekers views of the city from almost 100 metres high.
Following the success of that project, NorthernLight is working on a number of other high rise experiences, including one currently being developed in Budapest, and also regularly launches concepts with the aim of inspiring city planners about the possibilities of high rise experiences. Recent concepts include Panorama Pool, a transparent ring-shaped rooftop swimming pool; the Skyline Mosaic observation deck, featuring coloured mosaic walls that provide unusual views; and Eye in the Sky, which allows visitors to ’walk in the space between the city below and its warped mirror image above.
“We love the idea that rooftops are forgotten places in the urban landscape,” says Slavenburg. “They’ve got such great potential.”
Labyrinthia, Drents Museum, Assen
Opened on October 20, 2024, Labyrinthia is a new collection presentation at Drents Museum, Assen in the Netherlands.
In Labyrinthia, visitors go on a journey of discovery through 15 rooms of the museum. This journey takes in several of the museum’s masterpieces, including the Yde girl (a bog body from the 1st century found in Assen in 1897), the Pesse canoe, and some of Van Gogh’s paintings.
Visitors listen to iconic stories, go on a mammoth hunt, experience the world through the eyes of Vincent van Gogh, and paddle a canoe through the ancient bog landscape. The stories of 15 important artefacts are told in an interactive way that engages all of the senses – multimedia presentations bring history to life and visitors are encouraged to touch, smell, dance, and explore.
Colour, lighting and other effects are used to create atmosphere at Labyrinthia / Photo: Drents Museum/Sake ElzingaElzinga
Visitors can paddle a replica of the Pesse canoe through ancient boglands / Photo: Drents Museum/Sake Elzinga
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2024 issue 4
People: Jess French
The children’s author sees her fantastical creations brought to life at Chester Zoo
Interview: Peter Slavenburg
As Drents Museum in the Netherlands launches a radically new collection presentation, we speak to the designer about doing things differently
Talking point: A helping hand
Attractions industry workers need support more than ever, but is enough being done? We speak to some experts putting wellness and mental health first
Planetarium: Looking up
Bringing people together under the dark skies of Arizona, Lowell Observatory’s new Astronomy Discovery Center is truly unique
Waterpark: Desert Oasis: Qiddiya Aquarabia
The largest waterpark in the Middle East is set to open in Saudi Arabia in 2026, and it’s going to be huge. We speak to the team behind this epic development
Museums: Nintendo Museum: Play on
Giant controllers, consoles operated by visitors’ shadows and a game based on Japanese poems... The Nintendo Museum opens in Kyoto
Technology: Kyle Morrand: The power of play
The CEO of 302 Interactive is using AR, VR and other technologies to solve real world problems, and transform the attractions industry. He shares his game plan
Interview: Dominic Jones
From a game-changing partnership to getting creative with budget technologies, the CEO of the Mary Rose Trust is bringing his commercial nous to the museum world
Research: In the heart of it
City centre attractions are transforming to meet the needs of experience-hungry visitors, but where are they headed next?
Expo 2030 Riyadh is being planned as a permanent visitor destination, with organisers
confirming the six-million-square-metre site will become a Global Village after the event closes.
The owner of one of Australia's best-known waterparks has acquired a major competitor,
creating a new attractions business spanning two of the country's largest visitor destinations.
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
+ More news
COMPANY PROFILES
Sally Corporation Our services include: Dark ride design & build; Redevelopment of existing attractions; High-quality [more...]
Alterface Alterface’s Creative Division team is
seasoned in concept and ride development,
as well as storyte [more...]
instantprint We’re a Yorkshire-based online printer, founded
in 2009 by Adam Carnell and James Kinsella. [more...]
Polin Waterparks Polin was founded in Istanbul in 1976. Polin
has since grown into a leading company in
the waterpa [more...]
