New app with multiple thematic tours
The Palazzo del Te is the undoubted masterpiece of Giulio Romano, who built it for Duke Federico II Gonzaga on the outskirts of Mantua between 1525 and 1535. The Italian artist and architect designed this palatine villa in its whole, from the projection of the building plans to the smallest detail of the profuse decoration of its interiors, which display frescoes of priceless value.
Resulting of the “Giulio Romano Experience” exhibition that we designed for Palazzo del Te, the institution has commissioned us to develop a guide application for the palace tour to update the one we had already created in 2019. For this new app, we have designed an Augmented Reality experience that goes beyond the traditional course through the spaces so that the user can explore the most suggestive rooms thoroughly and in an immersive way.
CLIENT Fondazione Palazzo Te
YEAR 2021
FEATURES
- Self-guided tour
- Immersive experience
- Alternative thematic tours
- Aimed at different types of audience
- Scalable app with modular content
- Augmented Reality effect
- 3D scan and photogrammetry
- 360º images
- Remotely accessible
- UX/UI
- Available on iOS and Android
Project
The app aims to accompany the visitors along the monumental rooms and spaces, revealing their symbology and historical context. While Palazzo del Te was conceived as a place of leisure and rest for the Duke of Mantua in the likeness of Roman villas, the imposing complex erected by Giulio Romano, with its particular architecture and frescoes, turned it into a paradigmatic example of the Mannerist movement, representative of the Italian Cinquecento.
In order to dynamize the experience, we have proposed alternative itineraries that can be explored in parallel and they provide more than one perspective on Palazzo del Te. This translates into a valuable contribution since it engages different types of audiences and promotes visitor loyalty, because people want to return to the palace to continue to learn about it.
The result is a versatile guide app that the user can personalize, deciding the rhythm and depth in which he wants to visit the palace.
Palazzo Te app is available for free for the main operating systems and can be accessed remotely from anywhere in the world, so people can get to know it comfortably without having to travel there.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
PROGRAMMING
- React Native
SOFTWARE
- PhotoScan
- After Effects
HOW DOES THE APP WORK?
The application was initially divided into two different itineraries. For those users who want to know all the contents about Palazzo del Te, the itinerary can be easily exchanged, back and forth, through a menu button at any time during the visit.
The first itinerary corresponds to a circular route through the rooms of the building that presents their features and information in a traditional way. This itinerary spans along twenty-seven spaces that include both the interiors, with the halls and private rooms, and the exteriors, with the pools and gardens. The content cards appear over the map that indicates the location of each room, the visit’s direction and the user’s current position.
The second one is a thematic itinerary called “Il Mito di Venere a Palazzo Te,” which revolves around the figure of Venus and her representations. This non-linear route shows twenty-six reproductions of this divinity in different mythological episodes, which are distributed throughout the frescoes and reliefs in several rooms.
We conceived a scalable application, designed to incorporate other thematic content about the palace iconography or the showcases and exhibitions that it may host. In fact, we are already producing a third itinerary called “L’Arte di Vivere a Palazzo Te,” which talks about the attributes represented in the frescoes and their interpretation concerning art, music, architecture, weapons and love.
AUGMENTED REALITY MODE
To enhance the rooms that display the most spectacular mural paintings, we have developed ad hoc an Augmented Reality (AR) mode, which allows you to observe in detail the magnificent figures painted by Giulio Romano. The experience is even more immersive thanks to the ceilings’ quadratura created by the artist, which consists in a technique that enlarges flat surfaces into impossible domes and other optical illusions that play with perspective and the viewer’s perception.
The AR feature can be activated from both tours and redirects the user to his phone camera. Scanning the frescoes of the room you are in, the app is able to detect the correct room. The resulting image can be explored in 360º with the phone’s movement or can be rotated and zoomed in manually.
In the digitalized images, the Venuses appear highlighted above the rest of the elements and are linked to the contents of the related itinerary.
Palazzo del Te has already entrusted Visivalab on previous occasions to develop digital experiences aimed at the public. In 2020, we conceived a temporary exhibition with immersive and AR installations about Giulio Romano and his relationship with the building and Mantua, and still a year earlier, we digitalized its architectural and ornamental heritage to develop its first guide app.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
PROGRAMMING
- React Native
SOFTWARE
- PhotoScan
- After Effects
