Princes Of Gwynedd, Beddgelert

In an effort to bring thousands of extra tourists to Wales Cadw have initiated a new pan-Wales Heritage Interpretation plan, the first part of which is the Princes of Gwynedd Project, a massive scheme that highlights the history of one of Wales’ longest-ruling, most successful and famous royal dynasties.

With new themed driving, cycling and walking routes visitors to Snowdonia are able to explore 30 iconic heritage sites – the Castles, Abbeys and Churches that helped shape the historic landscape of Snowdonia.

Kick starting the visitor experience are 6 new hubs, giving visitors an insight into the lives and times of the princes and pointing them in the right direction for the next leg of their journey. We were commissioned to design, manufacture and install one of these hubs in the Beddgelert Tourist Information Centre.

Beddgelert Princes of Gywnedd Hub

The Beddgelert Princes of Gywnedd Hub is located in one corner of the Beddgelert Tourist Information Centre, the first step with this exhibition design was to maximise the small amount of space available, but also set it apart from the rest of the Centre. This was achieved using a bespoke curved audio bench as a divider, creating a distinct ‘zone’ for the hub. The rear of the bench showcases a large image of Dinas Emrys, with the following sentence in both Welsh and English;

“Come into the heart of the kingdom of Gwynedd – explore the landscape, music and poetry of princes…”

Using three push button audio points within the bench visitors can hear poetry and songs in Princes of Gwynedd era Welsh.

Following the brand guidelines we designed two other signage panels, one a large map detailing each of the historic sites of interests within the Princes of Gwynedd project, the second is a timeline that runs the span of the hub, with LED under lighting, once again with the intention of establishing a distinct zone for the exhibition.

Touchscreen Kiosk and Corner Video Screen

As part of the project a number of videos have been developed to provide a brief history of the Princes of Gwynedd, along with a website and plans for further media to be developed in the future. All of this is accessible (along with photographic archives) via a touch screen kiosk in the corner of the hub running Lightbox2, our media browsing museum software. Lightbox displays all content to visitors in an easy to use and customisable touch screen interface and can be easily updated at a later date by the client.

We also developed a bespoke corner screen which displays slideshows that can also be easily updated by the client to provide up-to-date information regarding the Princes of Gwynedd scheme.

Great Things Come in Small Packages

With a humble amount of space and modest budget to work with the Beddgelert hub manages to provide visitors with a multi-media experience and all the information required to help them on their Princes of Gwynedd journey.

It may be a small space but it’s certainly packed with interpretation.