The Wishing Forest
BACKGROUND
The holiday experience at shopping malls is known for photos with Santa and conventional decor. As the future of physical retail spaces shifted to focus on experiences and interactivity, Brookfield Properties saw an opportunity to test a new holiday approach at a few of their mall locations.
PROJECT
I partnered with Two Things to develop playful landscapes called The Wishing Forest, a series of forest groves with different themes of interactivity. We moved away from the typical winter wonderland and leaned into natural elements — organic shapes, forest sounds and modern tree forms. To bring in feelings of wonder and surprise, we housed reactive sound, lighting and movement into the landscapes for a multi-sensory experience.
LAST THOUGHTS
This was a satisfying project for a few reasons — the initial strategy and concept carried through to the final installation, technology was incorporated in a thoughtful way, and our pie-in-the-sky ideas came to life.
To see the final installations, please visit Red Paper Heart.
Wishing Tree Grove —
Send your holiday wish through a chandelier of pneumatic tubes and a reactive light show.
Holiday Bells Grove —
Move around the overhead bells to prompt a series of sound and lights, growing louder and brighter the faster you go.
Whispering Wishes Grove —
Speak a wish into sound capture trees and hear it morph into bird chirps, owl hoots and other forest life.
Memory Grove —
A set for Santa photography with whimsical trees and colorful gifts.
Giving Grove —
Trees with animatronic surprises using analog mechanics.
Additional Elements —
Signage, hanging mobiles and custom packaging.
