Design

Blue Sky Ideation

These are two “blue sky” ideas for different projects. With these, I hope to showcase out-of-the-box thinking and ideation.

The first is an idea for an entertainment centre known as The Grid. Here, guests can step inside the computer and leave the “real world” behind them.

The second is an idea for a fictional planet that is being terraformed. Though there is an explicit story of traders and adventurers, there is an implicit story of humanity coming together in a new world.

Aperture Science
Enrichment Center

Once an idea has been approved, it’s time to start figuring things out. Here a concept begins to get fleshed out and technical features take shape.

This is a concept for an escape room based on the Portal video game series. The piece showcases the various puzzles around the general layout of the building. Like the video games, guests will have no interactions with other humans, being guided instead by GLaDOS – the AI who runs the facility.

The approach of the escape room – or test chamber as it is called in the series – revolves around different rooms that are designed and furnished as if they were different sides of the same main room. For example, guests would enter a room through a portal that is made to look as if they were entering the same room they were in from a different side.

The Grid

We now arrive at Feasibility, the most controversial part of the design lifecycle. Here we analyse the proposed project and ask the ultimate question: is it worth it? Synonymous with concepts such as value engineering, this stage is where we make sure the really cool ideas we have are actually profitable.

This is a pitch for a brand new Family Entertainment Centre known as the Grid. Not connected to any IP or brand, the Grid attempts to maximise the strengths of the industry while minimising its weaknesses.

MIB: Extinction Event

The next phase is where we begin to get technical. Ideas are great, but in this industry we want to build our ideas for guests to enjoy. In this phase, we reconcile the artistic with the scientific.

This is a queue for a hypothetical attraction based on the Men In Black series. The first portion is an open area where guests wait for their virtual queue position to come up. Once it’s their turn, they head down to the secret MIB facility to uncover the mystery lurking within.

This project includes a storyboard and a floor plan for the queue. Here, I hope to showcase a thorough understanding of both storytelling and “real world” constraints.

Orchid Peak

Now, it’s time to get detailed. At this point, different disciplines come together to pick everything out from the colour of the walls to the food being served.

This was a proposed overhaul of the Sky100 observation deck at the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong. We redesigned the entire space, creating a more cohesive story that highlighted the unique beauty of Hong Kong. As part of our initial research, we spoke with Hong Kong natives and tourists to understand what they loved about the city and confirm our translations were faithful to the language. Our experience included a recurring motif of the Hong Kong Orchid (bauhinia x blakeana).

As part of this project, I proposed a partnership with the Hong Kong Tourism Board, making this their flagship attraction while simultaneously promoting other destinations in the city leveraging their existing Quality Tourism Services. My responsibilities included ideation, concept development, research, marketing design, and UX design.

Weaver Studio

Finally, it’s time to build our idea. The final phase of the design process is to create the construction documents. From here, we move into production and installation (the actual building of stuff). And then, we can turn things over to Operations and allow guests to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

This is a set of construction documents for a studio/apartment unit that is part of a larger art camp. The premise was to design a space given an existing “shell” of a building that would function as a cabin for the instructor and a studio to teach weaving. These documents are considered up-to-code (as of July 2021), with details on the coversheet.