Lewis Latimer Interactives

Lewis Howard Latimer was the son of self-emancipated enslaved people, a self-taught draftsman, and major contributor to the invention of the lightbulb and the telephone. Some of his own inventions are the early air conditioning unit and the railroad car bathroom.

Growing up, Latimer faced many challenges due to racial discrimination prevalent at the time. He enlisted in the Union Navy in 1864 at the age of 16 and—with no access to formal education—taught himself mechanical drawing which eventually led him to become a chief draftsman, patent expert, and inventor.

The Lewis Latimer House Museum in Flushing, New York is the very same house that Latimer lived in from 1903 until his passing at the age of 80 in 1928. Threatened with demolition, the house was relocated from Holly Avenue in East Flushing to its present location in 1988. It is now a historic house museum owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, operated by the Lewis H. Latimer Fund, Inc., and is a member of the Historic House Trust.

We worked closely with Isometric, the lead exhibition designer, to produce four interactive exhibitions through a combination of digital and physical experiences that educate, entertain, and inspire—all rooted in Latimer’s legacy as an mold-breaking inventor of his time.

INVENTION MACHINE

Vertical screen displaying inventions Latimer patented, but never built. Oversized blueprints reimagined as 3D objects which brings the inventions to life.

TOGETHER WE RISE

An interactive “family portraits wall” of contributors and leaders integral to Latimer’s legacy. A bench in front of the projection wall holds a hand-crank allowing viewers to navigate to a particular profile by rotating and pressing a physical button.

POETRY MACHINE

A skeletal mechanical crank allowing visitors to rotate between panels of Latimer’s poetry. When cranked to the right position, the selected poetry plays audibly, allowing visitors to experience the poetry as an audio-visual sensory experience.

LATIMER BUZZ SELFIE APP

A selfie app that can be loaded directly on visitor’s smart phones using a QR code on the printed Latimer Buzz magazine. Through the app, everyone can take a fun selfie image as the cover of Latimer Buzz magazine, and actually print a physical sticker that can be affixed to the magazine as a keepsake item—a kid-friendly activity and souvenir from a memorable experience.