AV specialist

The beautiful centre of Willemstad, a fortified town on the Hollands Diep. The Mauritshuis was commissioned by Prince Maurits, son of Willem van Oranje (1567-1625), and built in 1623. As the founder and first resident, he personally welcomes, as life-size interactive silhouette, the visitors to the renewed centre.

In the visitor centre, visitors are enticed to discover the defence of Willemstad for themselves. Different stories are told. The stories are grouped in three overarching themes: Orange and Spain, Land and Water and War and Peace. In each room a theme comes to life. The aim of this visitor centre is to ‘entice’ visitors to discover the rest of the defence of Willemstad through the interactive exhibition.

Photo: www.studio1974.nl

The focus is on experience and international visitors. In addition to personal guidance, every visitor receives a tablet one entry that guides them interactively. In this way the visitor discovers all ins and outs of the port through augmented reality and virtual reality.

Nathalie van Impe, Head Communication and Marketing officer, is proud on Portopolis. “With this renewal, we are fully focusing on experience and interactivity. One ingredient we are not changing, our hosts are happy to welcome young and old and share their knowledge about the port with great enthusiasm.” Harbourmaster Annick de Ridder completes: “Through Portopolis, our port will also become more tangible to visitors and at the same time we will be working to support the largest economic engine in our region.”

Commissioned by Bailleul Ontwerpbureau who designed and conceived the visitor centre including all AR applications, Bruns was given the responsibility for the realisation of Portopolis together with the multimedia company CREATE.eu.

Photography: Inneke Gebruers
The families in the photo-reportage each form a bubble, so the mouthguards were taken off for a while.