Auckland Live launches the first Accessibility Virtual Tour of the city’s Town Hall

digital tour technology helps audiences with accessibility needs understand the spaces and routes in advance, before stepping inside the building

Posted on: 14 December 2017

Share

logoAuckland Live is a part of Regional Facilities Auckland, committed to promoting the arts, and supporting inclusiveness and access to the arts for all.

In early December 2017, Auckland Live launched the first Accessibility Virtual Tour for the Town Hall– the first of a New Zealand venue to assist disabled and mobility-impaired concertgoers. This online tour is an intuitive vehicle for audiences with accessibility needs to become familiar with the historic venue before stepping inside.

Built around 3-D images of the Town Hall’s Baroque-style interiors, the tour begins in the venue’s foyer, where virtual visitors can choose to navigate wheelchair and mobility-impaired pathways taking them to seating in the Great Hall and Chamber Concert. Step counts along the way, coupled with elevator access, floor plans and pathways to the box office, public toilets and the bar offer an enhanced and fulsome experience of the Auckland Council A and Category 1 Heritage NZ listed building.

auckland-live-accessibility-tour-2

User-centric and innovative, AVT is the culmination of hours of research and analysis by Auckland Live and virtual tour developers Property3D, as well as consultation and testing with the disabled community.

“By coupling the latest in digital tour technology with a 106-year-old building we’ve opened up the doors of the Town Hall wider than ever before. The enhanced accessibility allows more Aucklanders, particularly those with disability issues and the elderly, to enjoy the iconic Town Hall as well as experience the magic and memories created by the live arts experience. We believe this is only the first step to the future of more accessibility and inclusive”, said Auckland Live director, Robbie Macrae.

Accessibility Virtual Tours will be launched online in 2018 for The Civic, Aotea Centre and Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland.

The Town Hall tour can be taken here: https://goo.gl/3pNNqX
Website: aucklandlive.co.nz

 

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Mammary Mountain: the new exhibition coming to NEoN Digital Arts
  A new interactive exhibition coming to NEoN Digital Arts Workshop & Event space, at Keiller Centre, Dundee,  on 25th November. NEoN Digital Arts is a charitable organisation whose aims are to advance the understanding and accessibility of digital and technology-driven art forms and encourage high quality within this medium's production. Mammary Mountain by Tara Baoth Mooney, Maf'j Alvarez & Camille Baker, is an intimate performance that explores dis-ease w...
EVA 2019 Saint Petersburg: Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts
We invite you to take part in the International Conference EVA 2019 SAINT PETERSBURG: Electronic Imaging & the Visual Arts (http://evaspb.ifmo.ru/en/), which will take place 20 - 21 June 2019 at the ITMO University (Lomonosov Street, bld 9, Saint Petersburg, Russia). Working language is English. MAIN TOPICS OF THE EVA 2019 Saint Petersburg CONFERENCE: - Digital Humanities; - Art&Science; - AR/VR/MR/XR technologies. For the participation in the conference you need...
ABLE Summit on digital accessibility in higher education
ABLE (Accessibility for a Bolder Learning Experience), is an  initiative by the Office of Information Technology (IT) in collaboration with the Student Affairs Accessible Education Office (A.E.O) at the American University of Beirut (A.U.B), to open the doors of higher education for all through digital accessibility. More than 200 experts, frontline workers, innovators, vendors and end users from around the world are expected to attend the April summit to share innovations, best practices...
Rome Reborn original project and new apps
Rome Reborn Project was an international initiative launched in 1996 with the goal of creating 3D digital models to illustrate the urban development of ancient Rome. According to the advice of the project's advisory committee, the work of modeling begun recreating the city in year 320, under the emperor Constantine. This was a transition moment for the ancient city from the point of view of its architecture, which saw an increasing of Christian basilicas and churches built near to older structur...