David Livingstone Birthplace Opens

The David Livingstone Birthplace opens its doors to the public today. We worked with the David Livingstone Trust to redevelop, reinterpret and revive the museum. Located in the former textile mill where he was born, the renewed museum is ‘the’ place to encounter the man, unpick the myth, debate his legacy and, in doing so, create new links between Scotland and Africa.

We created an experience that brings you into Livingstone's world. You can visit the very room that he was born in, see his personal items on display and become absorbed in his writings. As you make your way through the experience, you embark on different chapters of Livingstone's life: his boyhood years, his university days, the time he spent in Africa and his legacy after death. Through each chapter, you meet Livingstone in his many guises – mill worker, explorer, doctor, missionary, abolitionist, son, husband, father. Livingstone’s own words can be heard and read throughout the experience as he narrates his life story. Interactives put you in Livingstone's shoes – unpicking clues to diagnose ailments, learning to play African instruments or navigating your way through Africa.

Each chapter of Livingstone’s life is told through a series of immersive storytelling spaces. Ambient soundscapes, setworks and graphics recreate milestone moments in his life – his childhood in Blantyre, his ‘discovery’ of the Victoria Falls, his famous meeting with Stanley.