Transforming Cave

Ngong Ping Village / CHINA

The Transforming Cave is a climactic scene in a multi-media experience called ‘Walking with Buddha’. Guests enter an abstract cocoon-like space where they are immersed in a 360-degree media montage depicting Buddha’s trials and tribulations on his journey toward enlightenment.

The finale transports guests back to the frenetic, colorful, busy streets of Kowloon in Hong Kong via an invisible blacklight transformation.

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

One of the largest ‘completely invisible blacklight’ scenic attractions .....

Project Details

Involvement

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

Scope

(2) Buddhist Themed Attractions + Area Development)

When

2004 – 2006 (6 months on job site)

Where

Hong Kong, Lantau Island, CHINA

Client

Dedica, Inc. (MTR Corporation)

Insights

The design intent here was to create a space that suspended the guests perception of reality so that they felt that they were also part of Siddhartha/Buddha's transformative journey. Blurring the edges of their peripheral vision with layers of organic shapes that morphed and changed to complement the media on screen helped us achieve that goal.

The invisible blacklight effect at the end of this experience involves a multi-pronged approach. As guests are distracted by a series of strobe lights, the overhead 'cave' structure lifts exposing the surrounding walls, the media screen and surrounding discs to form a unified tableau representing a distinctive scene in Hong Kong.