Project Description
In early 2023 we were approached by the President of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Memorial Foundation and asked if we would be interested in meeting to discuss the design and construction of a new Heritage Center to honor the fallen Sheriffs and Constables of the Fresno County Sheriff’s department. After meeting with the President and Vice President of the foundation, we were more than excited at the opportunity to take on this project. The goal was to support those in need, pay tribute to those wearing the badge, and create opportunities to gather to build fraternal relationships and memories.
A new Sheriff’s substation was already under construction and it was determined that this would be the location of the new Memorial and Heritage Center. Twenty three have fallen in the line of duty since the inception of the department dating back to the late 1800’s.
The Memorial is in two phases. The outside memorial includes waterfalls, trees and bronze statues honoring the fallen. A place for survivors. Families, friends, and community members will come together to pay their respects and to seek solace and comfort.
The Heritage Center is an indoor interactive experience for guests to learn about those that have made the ultimate sacrifice, and to educate guests to the importance of law enforcement and to build community support.
The Heritage Center
The Fresno Sheriff’s Memorial Foundation has formed a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with Solutions By Design. We have enjoyed working with CEO Bill Poss and his entire team, as we attempt to build a state of the art Heritage Center.
SBD was charged with designing and building a world-class experience that would interest guests of all ages.
A fact-finding trip was conducted and our team along with 3 individuals from the Sheriff’s Department were off to Washington DC to visit the National Law Enforcement Museum, the FBI Museum, the Spy Museum and the Space Museum. We also made a quick trip to Las Vegas to tour the Mob Museum. Our goal was to see how other similar venues used space and technology to create their experiences.
Inside the building, an amazing high tech experience is in the works. We have designed over 43 individual exhibits consuming 4 rooms. We are using a wide variety of materials and display technology to create both a tactile and interactive experience.
The entire experience consists of both tactile and digital representation. Most of the department units are represented…K9, SWAT, Bomb Squad, Air Support to name a few. A few of the non-digital displays include, A large plastic molded German Shepherd approximately 5’ in height will be seated above the entry doors. A manakin is being produced and will be placed on the wall repelling down a large rock wall. A row of jail cells will be modified and installed at the 10’ level with a guard so that guests see the jail when they enter the lobby.
A central focus in the community room features a large LCD Touch Video Wall featuring an overhead ticker display with motion graphics as a tribute to the 23 fallen. The Video Wall is an accumulation of all of the interactive displays located throughout. We have included directional speakers with motion detectors that invite guests to experience various modules on the Video Wall.
Each of the Units will have either a dedicated exhibit or a shared exhibit with interviews from each unit leader, photographs of various crime scenes and the equipment utilized in the daily operations of each unit. /p>
Our Favorite Displays
A crime scene game is being developed which will be available on 3 vertical 55” interactive displays. Guests can choose a crime and investigate the crime scene analyzing fingerprints, interviewing witnesses, test their memory of the scene for court testimonial and conduct fingerprint analysis. Lastly they can analyze GEO Mapping in conducting their investigation. Three Vertical Kiosks were designed for guest interaction. There are 7 Investigation steps in for the Crime Scene Game.
Guests will be able to navigate rugged terrain with our flight simulator. We created a CG chopper with graphics almost identical to the choppers used in the field.
Interface
The project is very time consuming, has many moving parts, and requires an attention to detail beyond most projects. SBD has proved capable of succeeding at these tasks and has our trust to get us across the finish line on time and under budget.
Each of the exhibits has a unique interface to allow guests to interact and learn. A Registration and Testing Module was created to allow school teachers to register their students prior to their site visit. Each student scans a RFID card and syncs their id to the card. A short quiz was created to test and record the results of each of 9 exhibits. Results are captured and submitted back to the teacher in the form of a pdf.
Hardware
- We have included a large 16’ x 9’ interactive video wall.
- A smaller video wall in the hallway from the lobby to the community room.
- An overhead array of 13 - 43” displays which is a ticker system detailing each of the fallen.
- Most of the displays are 55” or 65”displays mounted vertically or horizontally. Some are wall mounted and some are mounted in custom fabricated kiosks.
- A Dell gaming server is located in the IDF with a Nvidia Graphics Card along with 2 other servers.