Oranjehotel Junior: a cell block in the former Scheveningen prison from World War II. 

In a real cell, kids aged 10 to 16 can explore through an interactive program what happened during the Nazi occupation. 

The program illustrates how citizens’ freedoms were undermined by the absence of a rule of law and the impact of a totalitarian regime on society.

For us as sound designers, it was an intensive project involving 16 cells, 6 audio channels per cell and an interactive story lasting 30 minutes. We ended up with around 950 minutes of audio content to export. But the biggest challenge was crafting the stories themselves (8 original storylines for the educational program + 8 museum-versions).

These stories feature numerous voices and soundscapes, developed in close collaboration with the Oranjehotel and studio Louter. 

A lot of tech, set design, educational materials, and beautiful lighting design complete the interactive program. The fact that these stories involve people who were actually detained at Oranjehotel makes the project particularly special. During the recordings and sound-mixing in the actual cells, this awareness often came to the forefront. It was very moving to work in and for a place with such impactful histories.