The Immigrant's Suitcase: Sketch Up Visualization

If you have been following my previous posts, you are aware that  Adriana and myself are working on creating an interactive exhibit featuring an immigrant's suitcase. Our first step was to put some ideas down on paper and sketch it out.  To refresh your memory, this is was our original drawing:

While Adriana did a mighty fine job drawing the above picture, we wanted to have a more detailed visualization of what our exhibit might look like.  This is where Google Sketch Up comes in.  If you are unfamiliar with the program, it is an open source 3D modeling program that lets you, well, model things.  While it is particularly useful for architecture and engineering, it also works great for modeling museum exhibits. 

These are some preliminary ideas of what our exhibit could look like. 

Our focus is on the suitcase itself, but it is nice to imagine how the suitcase could be displayed within a larger context.  The images on the left wall show the three immigrant identities we hope to explore - Ukrainian, Chinese, and African American.  The right wall features introductory text and a Canadian Pacific Railway poster encouraging westward settlement, written in Ukrainian.

If we zoom in on the table, we get a better picture of the suitcase and the artifacts.  The artifacts again represent the three immigrant identities - Matryoshka nesting dolls (Ukrainian), Cowboy hat (African American ranchers) and an art piece featuring Chinese script. Adriana is currently figuring out how to fabricate the Matryoshka dolls using the 3D printer.  If we have additional time, we hope to make at least one of the artifacts interactive, perhaps make the dolls talk or pop open in some fashion.

Now the suitcase itself is pretty bare at this point, just containing the necessary technology - RFID equipped passports, a laptop, solderless breadboard, arduino, and an RFID reader.  Our goal is to construct a false bottom to place over the technological components to hide them from view, which will allow us to place a few artifacts on top.  Upon entering the exhibit the visitor will receive one of the passports and when they near the suitcase, the signal will be picked up by the RFID reader inside. The RFID reader will communicate with the laptop using the arduino, instructing it to turn on a video which will then be displayed on the screen mounted to the lid of the suitcase. 

The process is probably a bit more complicated than I have laid out and will most likely require additional technology, but this will become more clear as we progress in our research and fabrication. Any suggestions for improvement or modification are most welcome!