2026 / Digitalization
Dar Al Consul Guestbook & Digital Installation
The Guestbook is a digital media installation for Dar Al Consul, a heritage complex in the Old City of Jerusalem. Visitors leave a message, and a photo if they wish, as a leaf on a 3D olive tree that runs on a 65-inch t…
Dar Al Consul is a restored heritage complex in the Old City of Jerusalem, rehabilitated with UN-Habitat support. My main delivery for the complex is The Guestbook: a digital media installation in the form of an olive tree, where every visitor’s message becomes a leaf that stays on the tree. Alongside it, I support the complex’s on-site digital signage and multimedia installations.
A visitor writes a short message, can take a photo with the camera above the screen, and touches the branch where they want their leaf to hang. The 3D tree turns slowly, bringing older messages back into view, so the room never shows quite the same thing twice. The installation stands beside the complex’s own olive tree, on a 65-inch portrait touchscreen that works entirely by touch.
The same tree lives online at daralconsul.org/guestbook. A leaf placed in Jerusalem appears on the web, and visitors can share a link to their own message with family and friends. This turns a guest’s visit into something that travels beyond the building. The work was delivered in the context of GIZ Boost Palestine Tourism via WideOyster.
The experience
Visitors can explore before they sign: turn the tree, pinch to zoom in on a single leaf, browse messages one by one, or search for a name or a country. When nobody is using it, the installation runs a guided demo that explains itself. Signing takes six touch steps, with an on-screen keyboard in Latin and Arabic, and the whole experience is available in English, Arabic, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Behind the tree is a moderation and operations layer for the venue team. Every message is reviewed before it appears. Visitors who leave an email are told when their leaf goes up. Staff get a daily health report, and the data stays exportable at any time. Marketing consent is a separate opt-in that feeds the complex’s mailing list, so the guestbook also builds Dar Al Consul’s own audience.
Built to run unattended
An installation in a public room has to keep going for months without anyone there to look after it. The kiosk starts up on its own in under a minute, recovers from power cuts and crashes, holds messages safely when the internet drops, and can be supported remotely. The only daily task is wiping the screen. The system was built with GDPR in mind: data is hosted in the EU, photo metadata is stripped before upload, and there are no analytics or advertising trackers.
Digital signage and on-site multimedia
Beyond the guestbook, I support Dar Al Consul’s wider visitor-facing media. This covers technical specifications and installation concepts for digital signage, projectors and projection surfaces, touch-screen applications, and multimedia interpretation. I coordinate with designers, engineers, suppliers, and project partners so that each system fits the visitor flow, the interpretation and branding, and the constraints of a historic building. The work continues through installation follow-up and quality review on site.
Venue guidebook
To hand the installation over, I designed a fourteen-page guide and specification for the venue: how visitors use the tree, what happens after someone signs, a cut-out staff card, daily routines, moderation, what the system survives, and a full technical summary.
Key contributions
- Concept, design, and software for The Guestbook, a 3D olive-tree digital guestbook
- Touchscreen kiosk installation with camera, guided demo, and unattended recovery
- Multilingual web app in six languages, sharing one tree with the installation
- Moderation, email notification, share pages, and consent-based mailing-list growth
- GDPR-minded data handling, EU hosting, nightly backups, and remote support
- Venue guidebook and technical specification, including a staff quick-reference card
- Technical specifications and installation concepts for digital signage, projection, and touch-screen applications
- Coordination with designers, engineers, suppliers, and partners, with installation follow-up and quality review on site
Relevant links
- The Guestbook at Dar Al Consul
- Dar Al-Consul Complex website
- UN-Habitat Dar Al Consul rehabilitation background