The Mineral Resources Education Program of British Columbia
UBC Mining Department
BCIT Mining Technology Program
BCIT Geomatics ENgineering Technology Program
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The Mill at Britannia Mine: Beauty in the Beast - Working with the BC Museum of Mining and with funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Zero One produced this online story about a building as artifact. Zero One has created other exhibits dealing with industrial and human history, but unlike the others, this project had to communicate to the audience the magnitude of a building that was once part of one of the largest copper mines in the world.
The 3-D flash walkthrough of various areas in the mill building was designed to give an impression of size. Most of the mill is not accessible to the public, but by using QuickTime VR panoramas inside the building, users can take a detailed look at the building as it stands today. In addition to being able to access the building through animation and video, Zero One created a database of building blueprints that a user can zoom in on to get an up close look at the documents that provided the outline to construction. An interactive flow chart for the mill toggles between an explanatory diagram and blueprints thus allowing the user to understand the process step by step. Zero One avoided losing the human side of the story by continually making connections to the people whose lives involved the mill building. Archival video clips and interviews with former employees and community residents, including a section on artistry in the mill, remind the user of creative human expression which flows through our daily objects and tasks.