DuMontOpensMixed-RealityExperienceWorldonthePortofHamburginSpring2019
In the spring, a so-called Micro-Amusement Park will open in the HafenCity in Hamburg. With the immersive harbor experience "Discovery Dock," visitors can experience the Port of Hamburg up close. It offers visitors unknown perspectives of the Port of Hamburg using the latest VR technologies, projections, and real-time data. "Discovery Dock" is aimed at both Hamburg residents and the ever-growing target group of national and international tourists. The paid experience world will open in spring 2019 in close proximity to the Elbphilharmonie. The operator of "Discovery Dock" is DuMont Media GmbH, a 100 percent subsidiary of the Morgenpost Verlag GmbH, which belongs to DuMont. The investment amounts to more than 3.5 million euros. "The DNA of MOPO is Hamburg, just like the Port of Hamburg," says Susan Molzow, Managing Director of Hamburger Morgenpost Medien, DuMont. "With 'Discovery Dock,' we are expanding our Hamburg know-how into non-media business fields. We are investing in the growth market of tourism and edutainment alongside our core business, thus reaching new target groups."
The Port of Hamburg, as the only cosmopolitan seaport, is a magnet for visitors. A look behind the scenes of the port has so far been denied to visitors. On gray Hamburg rainy days, not every visitor understands the love of Hamburg residents for their port. With "Discovery Dock," DuMont offers an unseen view into the world of the Port of Hamburg as a weather-independent alternative and modern content addition. "Discovery Dock" conveys the diversity of the Port of Hamburg in a playful way and with the latest virtual reality technology on a roughly 40-minute experience path. Visitors learn about the working world in the port through authentic portraits of port employees, experience the exciting wildlife of the Elbe in life-size interactively, see the ship movements using real-time data, finally get to be a crane operator of a container bridge, and stand virtually in the largest dry dock in Europe next to a container ship. In addition to this unique present-day experience, there is an exciting outlook on the future of the port at the end.
Cooperation partners of "Discovery Dock" are AIDA Cruises, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), and the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). Additionally, the experience world is supported in content by Blohm+Voss, the University of Hamburg, and the Hamburg Authority for Environment and Energy.
The project has been led from the start as a design-thinking process to launch by Antje Dittrich. The multiple award-winning agency Demodern from Hamburg is the lead agency.
"'Micro Amusement Parks' are spatial installations primarily aimed at entertaining guests, evoking enthusiasm, and also playfully conveying educational content and making it effectively tangible. And that is exactly what we want to achieve with 'Discovery Dock': novel, playful, and fascinating interactions make the on-site experience an unforgettable event," explains Alexander El-Meligi, Managing Director and Creative Director of Demodern.
More information will soon be available on the website: www.discovery-dock.de