Jerome L. Greene Science Center Installation
Part of a large team building the interactive lobby installation for Columbia’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. I developed the touchscreen interfaces and created the animation system that the design team used to build the rest of the experience.
- Role: Developer on a multi-disciplinary team — touchscreen UI, animation methodology
- Stack: React, GSAP, HTML, CSS
- Client: AV&C / Columbia University
What it does
The Jerome L. Greene Science Center houses Columbia’s neuroscience research institute. The lobby features an interactive installation with touchscreen displays and synchronized video panels that move over brain wave imagery.
My work had two parts. The first was building the touchscreen interfaces that visitors interact with. The second was creating the animation methodology — a system for building animations that gave the design team creative freedom while keeping the implementation manageable and consistent. The animations were built with GSAP and needed to stay synchronized across multiple displays.
Why it matters
Most of my work is solo or on small teams. This project was different — a large, multi-disciplinary team building something physical. The challenge wasn’t just writing code, it was creating a system that other people could use to build on top of. The animation methodology had to be flexible enough for designers to explore ideas but structured enough that the results would actually work in the installation.
It’s also the kind of project where the stakes are different. A website can be patched after launch. A lobby installation at Columbia needs to work on opening day.
Above is a demonstration of the animation of the touch screens.
The video panels moved over top image scans of brain waves in sync with each other.
