Lower Oder Valley National Park, renewal of the permanent exhibition in the BIZ Lower Oder Valley National Park, exhibition design services according to Lph. 2-7 HOAS Lower Oder Valley National Park, renewal of the permanent exhibition in the BIZ...

Lower Oder Valley National Park, renewal of the permanent exhibition in the BIZ Lower Oder Valley National Park, exhibition design services according to Lph. 2-7 HOAS Lower Oder Valley National Park, renewal of the permanent exhibition in the BIZ Lower Oder Valley National Park, exhibition design services according to Lph. 2-7 HOAS
The visitor center of the Lower Oder Valley National Park is located in the Schwedt district of Criewen. It is housed in the old sheepfold of the towns historic estate ensemble and houses a permanent exhibition on the floodplain landscape of the Oder lowlands on around 500 m². The exhibition opened in autumn 2000 and was partially revised in 2010. The existing exhibition is made up of 13 different modules that show the focus and the creation of the Lower Oder Valley National Park. A central element of the exhibition is the large Oder aquarium with up to 20 native fish species. In order to understand the landscapes of Germanys only floodplain national park, there are landscape models and moor profiles that show the lower Oder valley over time. There is also a historical excursion to the tundra of the Ice Age, to the Slavic castle wall in Schwedt and to the medieval village. In order to bring the over 200 species of birds closer to visitors, there are numerous specimens and a BlueBox system that allows a birds eye view. To show the diversity of the national parks flora and fauna, the multimedia show offers many insights. It is also intended to show a look into the future of the national park in 2095 with fictional changes to the landscape. To illustrate the principle of floodplain landscapes, the interactive polder model shows how the water behaves in the floodplain and how people regulate flooding. Up to 20,000 visitors come to the visitor center every year, many of them families, daycare and school groups as well as individual travelers. They want to get to know the Lower Oder Valley National Park and use the center as a starting point for their tours into the area. The exhibition is over 20 years old and therefore has some defects. The way we address our visitors is no longer up to date. The exhibition in the visitor center should therefore be completely renovated. The project began in 2023 with the development of a preliminary concept. This was provided by a renowned agency in order to roughly define the subject areas and content and to better plan the implementation. This resulted in a rough time and budget plan. As part of this award, further planning should be driven forward based on this. The new permanent exhibition is intended to make the history, present and future of the region accessible to a broad and international audience in a low-threshold, interactive and experience-oriented manner. It is intended to contextualize the unique floodplain national park and to show and explain the change in the national park from a cultural landscape to large-scale wilderness areas. In order to understand the changes, the formation of the lower Oder valley and the cultural and usage history of this area should first be conveyed and presented. There should also be a targeted focus on the cross-border moment of the Lower Oder Valley region, which connects Germany and Poland. The motto of the national park “Let nature be nature” should be made clear. Allowing wilderness beyond human intervention is the long-term goal for many areas of the national park. The “land in the river” is characterized above all by the dynamics of the water, which floods large parts of the landscape in the winter months. As a result, nature and the habitats in the national park are subject to constant change. Through the renaturation of the floodplain landscape and the avoidance of human intervention, this dynamic and its landscape-shaping power will increase in the future. The focus of the new permanent exhibition will also be on this unique floodplain landscape, which is one of the most species-rich habitats in Germany and is the exhibitions unique selling point - there is no other floodplain national park in Germany.