Bodhi Tree

Ngong Ping Village / HONG KONG

The Bodhi Tree anchors an intimate courtyard where guests gather to enter either ‘Walking with Buddha’, a media-based walk-through experience or ‘A Monkey’s Tale’, a theatre venue presenting an original children’s film depicting the time-honored tale of the Monkey King.

The tree stands approximately 11m tall (36’) with a green canopy consisting of 15,000 Bodhi leaves.

Ngong Ping 360 was part of a HK$1-billion cultural destination development and 5.7m cableway system located atop the picturesque mountains of Lantau Island just west of Hong Kong.

Building a tree on top of a mountain .....

Project Details

Involvement

Production Designer/Art Director (Concept/Schematic/Design & Build)

Scope

(2) Buddhist Themed Attractions + Area Development

When

2004 – 2006 (6 months on site)

Where

Hong Kong, Lantau Island, CHINA

Client

Dedica, Inc. (MTR Corporation)

Insights

I never really imagined designing a 'tree' as part of my career, but this Bodhi Tree was to become the focal point of this experience. Studying the significance of this symbolic tree as it related to the origins of Buddhist teachings was enlightening so starting the guest's experience underneath the bows of this tree truly set the tone for the indoor experiences.

The designers and I stared at this tree on the computer screen for hours from every angle trying to tease out the reality of a real Banyan tree from the prop roots to the unique shape of the leaves. I had no idea how difficult this would be. Mother Nature is an amazing and complex designer.