D&P’s cutting-edge AV integration at this exciting Washington attraction has redefined how visitors engage with one of the world’s most iconic residences and landed the integrator the 2025 Inavation Award for Best Museum & Heritage Project.
Located just a block from the White House, The People’s House: A White House Experience is a groundbreaking Washington, USA attraction. Designed to offer visitors an immersive, technology-rich journey into the history and treasures of the US President’s residence, the attraction also offers a rare behind-the-scenes view into one of the most secure buildings in the world.
The project was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) who contracted Design and Production Incorporated (D&P) to integrate an extensive AV infrastructure to create a dynamic, interactive visitor experience. Spanning nearly 2,000 sq m of museum space, the attraction uses LED, projection, lighting, interactive displays, and immersive audio to reimagine White House history and tell the stories of its staff and occupants over the years.
“Really, this was the White House Historical Association’s vision; they wanted to bring the White House to the people,” says Sue Lepp, senior vice president at D&P and lead for the project.
D&P served as both exhibit fabricator and AV integrator, implementing a sophisticated network of technologies that blend seamlessly into each exhibit. Cortina Productions was subcontracted to handle software and content development, with Lepp adding that “their vision was key to the magic that brought the project to life”.
For simplicity and reliability D&P standardised on equipment selection as much as possible. Panasonic was a partner on the project and the resulting installation made extensive use of Panasonic projectors and displays as well as QSC audio systems, Brightsign media players, LG transparent OLEDs, Digital Projection LED, Extron extenders and Dell computers.
The complexities of transforming an existing office building into the attraction, as well as a need to keep a tight reign on costs, saw the integration team opt for a decentralised system.
D&P partnered with Phase Shift Consulting on system engineering and Bryan Abelowitz, principle at Phase Shift, explains: "We didn’t have much back-of-house space. Racks are distributed throughout the floors, and we use point-to-point connections wherever possible to simplify deployment. The players and PCs are right at the displays to save space."
The system architecture relies on Q-Sys Core 610 for centralised control, with decentralised IDF (Intermediate Distribution Frame) racks positioned strategically across the floors for efficiency and reliability. At the heart of the project is a custom CMS and the network and control system is centralised so the team can manage, update, troubleshoot and fix issues on the system remotely.
Lepp says: "Normally, with a system this large, we’d prefer AV over IP with a centralised control system, but given the constraints of the building, we had to distribute everything locally and manage it over the network."
Pre-entry & South Façade
The experience begins before visitors even step inside. With the support of a team from Digital Projection, a massive curved 1.8mm Radiance LED wall (approximately 1.6m high by 18m wide) was installed in the attraction’s retail store and is visible to passersby on Pennsylvania Avenue where the attraction is located. A four-channel Brightsign player and a Novastar H2 video processor/LED controller were located in an IDF closet 6m behind the LED wall.
Nearby, a 5m tall by 12m wide, 1/5 scale model of the White House can be viewed by all foot and vehicular traffic passing whether at day or night. It incorporates nine Panasonic 43-in, 700-nit displays embedded within the windows of the model and selected for their size and to handle high light levels at certain times of day. Displays are paired with networked Brightsign 4K media players and content is synchronised with theatrical lighting controlled by a Pharos lighting cue system tied to the show control network.
Twelve QSC column speakers and two subwoofers add audio to the experience which recreates the history of the building with lighting and visuals synchronised to create a show that includes silhouettes of activity within the rooms. Specific scenes in the intro film, such as the burning of the White House in 1814, are further dramatized with lighting FX while architectural lighting adds a changing colour wash on the model.
The Dollhouse
A signature installation, known as the Dollhouse, features 19 meticulously recreated scale-model rooms of the White House including furniture and interior design features as well as minute details such as tiny LEDs illuminating chandeliers and lamps.
Panasonic ultra-short-throw projectors deliver rear-screen projection for each room, while LG transparent OLED displays at various depths and locations add further visuals to 15 rooms.
The content shows historical events across the rooms in one synchronised show and visitors can use interactive stations in front of the model to dive deeper into stories within individual rooms. Each of the Dollhouse rooms are fed by a dual output Dell computer which are run in sync for the main show but can also be triggered by the Microsoft Surface tablets. Both the computers and the tablets are tied back to the CMS server.
Dante audio is delivered via networked QSC PoE speakers concealed within the ceiling of each room. Audio for the main show is delivered by QSC column speakers in horizontal grills at the front of the Dollhouse.
Stephen Platenberg, president of Cortina, noted the complexity of layering content: "We mocked up the Dollhouse early in D&P’s warehouse, testing how content appeared across multiple surfaces. It wasn’t just about projection but how transparent OLEDs interacted with background projections to create depth."
The mock up, created nine months before installation, was essential. Firstly, the location for each OLED screen within each room had to be finalised before software production could move forward. Two more rounds of mock ups were then required to better define viewing angles, lighting and construction details for all the 3D parts and pieces to be constructed.
“What you have on paper often makes lots of sense until you really get in there and try and make it work,” says Lepp. “We quickly realised we didn’t have enough space to achieve the initial plans but were able to play with perspective to create the desired effect.”
State Floor Immersive Theater
At the entrance to the State Floor Immersive Theater is a portrait-mounted, 65-in Panasonic screen integrated with PCAP touchscreen by TSI. It tells visitors what each show entails and also serves as a menu for the attraction’s staff to select specific shows.
Visitors enter a 50 sq m immersive theatre where 4K projection technology bathes the walls in high-resolution imagery of the East, Red, Blue, and Green Rooms of the White House. Seven Panasonic 3-chip DLP projectors with ultra-short-throw lenses create seamless floor-to-ceiling displays. Gesture-based interaction is powered by four radarTouch tracking camera systems (one for each wall) from Exact Solutions. Visitors can select objects on the walls for deeper exploration.
Platenberg explains: “As you transition between spaces you have a few minutes where you can go round and explore the space; open 3D models that spin, open doors, turn a fire on in the fireplace.”
The entire team agreed that the success of this immersive experience, that offers unprecedented virtual access to the White House, was largely down to the Radar Touch system.
"These sensors were incredibly stable, and once installed, we barely had to adjust them. They were a lifesaver in the immersive theatre, making the experience intuitive and seamless," says Lepp.
Audio for the main show is played over QSC pendant speakers and subwoofers. Directional and isolated playback for audio associated with visitor interaction is delivered with Dakota speakers placed around the perimeter of the room and tied to their respective audio channels.
Video sources were demanding and five Dell Precision 3680 i9s with Nvidia RTX 6000 video cards were pressed into action. Extron DTP HDMI 4K 230 extenders were required to send signals to the IDF closet on the same floor.
Platenberg expands on the attraction from the content perspective: “In order to pull this experience off we decided we had to go into the White House and photograph the rooms that would be displayed. We had to 3D scan most of the furniture and objects in there.”
Access was scarce and sporadic, but Platenberg’s team managed to achieve this in just six days. “We used Unreal to create each room as a world, which made it feel realistic. Outside you might have trees blowing in the wind and when you’re in each room you are there over the course of a quickened day, so the sun moves, you get some shadowing.”
As visitors exit the immersive theatre, they pass through the West Colonnade, where videowalls behind glass windows in closed doors display looping historical footage of presidents and their families. Eight Panasonic 55-in videowall units, powered by Brightsign 4K media players and in two-by-two configuration, ensure high-resolution playback.
Overhead QSC speakers provide ambient audio that transitions seamlessly into the Rose Garden event space (fully kitted out to host events) and the Oval Office.
Oval Office
The Oval Office exhibit recreates the iconic space with minimal AV elements to preserve authenticity. However, an unavoidable structural column was transformed into a multimedia feature with each side using two pairs of stacked Panasonic video wall displays encased in 50% mirrored glass and topped with LED lighting and graphic art.
Abelowitz describes the challenge: "That column wasn’t going anywhere. So instead of hiding it, we turned it into a storytelling element. The displays cycle through archival footage, and visitors barely notice it’s a structural necessity."
All equipment had to be local. A small amplifier was chosen to drive Solid Drive transducers that were selected for quality sound on glass. A Brightsign 4-channel video player providers signals to each display.
D&P designed a base panel to enclose lighting drivers and dimmers on two sides of the column base and AV equipment in the other two sides of the column base. The column is controlled via show control and new content is pushed via the network from the CMS. When sensors at the column are triggered, clips of White House moments play.
People’s Voices & Library Table
On the second floor, visitors can explore behind the scenes of the White House by learning from its staff or exploring a past list of presidents and first ladies presented in ornately framed displays. The exhibition uses ten 55-in portrait-mode Panasonic displays integrated with TSI PCP touchscreen technology to enable interactivity.
Lepp emphasised how subtle interactive elements enhance engagement: "Each figure on the People’s Voices exhibit has a slight movement to acknowledge passersby. It’s a small trick that makes people stop and engage."
A similar technology set up was deployed in an adjoining room where two stations, this time with 65-in displays, are paired with a Logitech 4K Brio camera to enable visitors to take their own photos in the role they would like at the White House.
In the centre of the People’s Voices room is the 4m-long Library Table embedded with six LG 34-in ultra-wide monitors with PCAP touch surface and RFID sensors. Books, on the table’s shelf, are embedded with RFID chips so they can be taken and placed on a graphic icon on the table, opening a screen for further exploration.
Debates, dinner & family time
The Cabinet Room gives visitors a seat at a table of a life-sized “holographic” debate with past presidents and cabinet members. Using Pepper’s Ghost illusion techniques, realistic figures are seated at an 8m-long table. The effect is achieved with seven Panasonic monitors, suspended from the ceiling, displaying the figures. Glass, angled at 90-degrees under the table, reflects the images. Behind the table is a projected wall that shows the pre-show content and then the back wall of the cabinet room.
Debates cover key historical events ranging from the Civil War with Abraham Lincoln to the Cuban Missile Crisis with John F. Kennedy. Visitors weigh up the facts and place a vote on a tablet in front of them.
Visitors can then take a seat in State Dining Room. This space is set for dinner with furniture and tableware as it would be for the grandest of White House occasions.
Guests are surrounded by 23m of floor-to-ceiling 4K projected imagery showing distinguished guests as well as performers that have entertained those guests over the years.
Speakers and subwoofers provide ambient audio of guest announcements and entertainment. Sensors above tables activate localised audio via networked QSC soundbars to create the feeling of guests talking at your table.
From public engagements to private family moments, visitors next move through to the Family Theatre. This space recreates the 26-seat White House theatre for private film viewings for first families. A projector is concealed behind a curtain valance at the front of the theatre, while an Innovox MLA-48 speaker and QSC low profile speakers and subs deliver audio.
This section of the attraction is staged as a quiz. Questions about the families who have occupied the White House are asked with visitors voting for answers via keypads at their seat and the results displayed in the theatre.
As visitors leave, they are surprised by the appearance of the President running the film from the Projection Room, an illusion created with a 32-in Looking Glass Factory holographic display set in the back wall.
The final exhibit includes 32 objects that might have been found in the attics of the White House such as a bowling ball or a model of Air Force One. Each one is accompanied by a short story told via video with a screen (ranging from 10 – 24-in) set into the objects.
The models, all painted white, are set on platforms around the space, each has a sensor, a video and a local speaker. Overhead lighting highlights where to touch the object to activate the video.
The integration of AV technology within The People’s House: A White House Experience transforms this attraction into a living, breathing history lesson. By combining large-scale projection, transparent OLED displays, interactive touchscreens, and immersive audio, D&P has created an unparalleled museum experience that bridges historical authenticity with cutting-edge technology. Importantly it does this sensitively and subtly with each piece of technology presented naturally and delivering a clear purpose.
As Abelowitz says: "The real success of this project is balance between technology, content, and storytelling. If visitors leave feeling both entertained and educated, we’ve done our job."
Tech Spec
Audio
Countryman B3 lavalier microphone
Dakota Audio FA-501 directional ceiling speakers
Dell C730C and AC511soundbars
Innovox MLA-48 array speaker
MSE Audio SolidDrive MSK-1G surface mount speakers
QSC AcousticDesign Series speakers and subs, NL Series networked PoE speakers, SB42 column speakers, AP-212-sw subwoofers, AcousticCoverage Series ceiling speakers, SPA-QF amplifiers and Attero Tech Dante network audio input plates
Shure MXW wireless microphone system
Content, distribution and control
BEA Sensors Eagle Artek motion sensors
Exact solutions radarTouch tracking system
Brightsign XT1144, XC4055 and XD1035 media players; AU335 audio players; BP200HI touch panels
Dell Precision computers
Extron DTP HDMI 4K 230 series extenders
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 tablets
Nvidia RTX 6000 video cards
Pharos lighting cue system
Video
Digital Projection 1.8mm LED wall
Beetronics 15-in and 24-in monitors and touchscreens
Chief P-Series mount
Draper projection screen
LG 55EW5PG-S transparent OLED displays and 34BL650-B monitors
Logitech Brio cameras
Looking Glass Factory 32-in holographic display
MDI rear projection screens
Mimo Monitors 10-in and 21-in Mimo Vue touch displays
Novastar H2 LED controller
Panasonic 43-in, 50-in, 55-in and 65-in TH-EQ2 Series displays; 55-VF2H-VWB4D displays; RZ990, REQ10, PT-CMZ50U, PT-RQ18KU and PT-REQ-10LWU projectors
Peerless PJR125-POR projector mount
Premier Mounts GC5504 projector mount
Samsung The Frame 55-in displays
TSI custom touch overlays