Immersive learning in Digital dome form
Wits University and Anglo American will transform the Johannesburg Planetarium into a world-class digital research, training, and science engagement facility.
Wits Anglo American Digital Dome will soon bring cutting-edge 360-degree visual experience to learners, students, researchers and even you – opening a world of immersive learning.
Wits University and Anglo American have partnered to fund the refurbishment, expansion, and digitalisation of the 62-year-old Johannesburg Planetarium into a new, future-savvy, multidisciplinary research, training and science engagement events hub.
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“We are creating a high-tech 360-degree Imax-like theatre, just better,” said Professor Roger Deane, director of the Wits Centre for Astrophysics and the SKA chair in radio astronomy at Wits. “The Digital Dome will provide an incredible theatre experience, but it will also serve a greater purpose – it will assist researchers across all disciplines to visualise data in a profound way.”
Together, Wits and Anglo American are said to have provided R75 million to fund the first two stages of the three-stage project, with the Wits University Council committing R20 million and Anglo American providing R55 million.
During the first stage, the existing Planetarium will be refurbished and digitised with a new, state-of-the-art digital projection system, auditorium seating, and a Science and Technology Exploratorium.
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The second stage sees a north-wing expansion for a new suite of operational offices, an exhibition area, as well as a seminar room and meeting space for Digital Dome show planning and design.
In the third and final stage, which is yet to be funded, a new east-wing research-focused building will house open-plan office space for visiting multidisciplinary research teams to interface with in-house data visualisation and Digital Dome show rendering experts. It will include a creative studio, film and sound production facilities, to enable Wits to develop much of its science engagement digital content on-site.
This stage will be integrated with the Wits Football Stadium, and will include a media viewing deck and rooftop event space. Stage 1 and 2 , the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, will be completed in 2023 and open to the public in 2024.
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