World of Water
Themed Attraction Design
Overview
World of Water is a proposal for a themed attraction within the fictional “Seas of Imagination” aquarium that was conceived and developed over the course of five weeks. This project was submitted to the 2020 Cornell Theme Park Design Competition and placed 3rd Overall out of 61 teams and 1st Place in the Zamperla Technical Analysis challenge. My team consisted of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Cognitive Science majors. I headed the attraction’s Concept Design challenge and worked extensively on the Development, Master Planning, and Innovation challenges.
Role
Project Coordinator
Concept Designer
Writer
Graphic Designer
Tools & Skills
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Procreate
Duration
5 weeks
March – April 2020
Team Members
Aneesha Ramaswamy
Nicklas Lee
Jared Walker
Development
A drop of water isn’t very much on its own, but a rainstorm can bring life, rivers can carve landscapes, and oceans can cradle worlds. Mankind, animals, and the environment as we know it would not exist without water. Water is the world’s most valuable resource, and with climate change constantly worsening, understanding the water cycle is more important than ever. Seas of Imagination’s newest large-scale exhibit, World of Water is a technology-driven, interactive, explorative family experience that brings guests through local Canadian ecosystems and an experimental underwater ecology lab to showcase the importance of the water cycle and create fun and inspiration to promote the ultimate message that just like water, if we work together, we can drastically change our world.
Concept Design
In addition to leading the concept design ideation process and writing our pitch, I designed and illustrated the attraction poster, logo design, and overall Concept Design board.
I concentrated primarily on this deliverable because I wanted to further my skills as a designer and writer and also practice illustrating.
I ideated with the team and made decisions on the story, theme, and art direction for the attraction. These were synthesized into both the Development writing deliverable and the Concept Design board.
Click on the image to view the deliverable file.
As seen below, World of Water started with an entirely different name and concept. When we decided to center the attraction around the journey of a drop of water, I generated some rough ideas that represented stages of the water cycle. These were narrowed down to the image of a droplet and evolved to become a droplet of water encompassing planet Earth with a ribbon swirling around it. The font (aptly named Science Fair) was chosen to evoke a sense of scientific exploration for the “honorary ecologists.”
Similarly, the poster design process began with a rough idea of how to showcase the theme of the attraction in one image. I spent time studying the style and evolution of theme park attraction posters and aimed to create something that had the charm of vintage posters and could quickly tell guests what they could expect from the experience.
Master Planning
World of Water invites guests to experience the remarkable journey of water through many of the local environments of Vancouver and surrounding British Columbia. Donned honorary “ecologists,” guests embark on an expedition starting from the tops of the mountains to the depths of the ocean, following the natural flow of water and seeing how it brings life to its surroundings. As they complete the cycle, they are invited to try out a new experimental vehicle ecologists have created to help them study the water cycle up close, Expedition Eco.
Expedition Eco takes guests to an underwater laboratory where they are invited to “shrink” down to the size of a drop of water in a Magic School Bus-type vehicle and experience first-hand how water affects each of the environments from the point of view of a drop of water.
Guests begin their experience with a short orientation. Here, the ecologists are tasked with a mission to document how water provides for each flora/fauna species they encounter on their trip. To help, they are given one of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) queuing devices, appropriately themed as field survey equipment.
As guests are loaded into a large circular elevator, the elevator rises as 360-degree displays show stunning views of British Columbia. The scenes begin from the ground and rise to the clouds, making the guests feel like they are lifting off into the clouds like evaporation. After exiting the elevator, guests will travel alongside a real indoor “river” of water, going from snowmelt to ocean through 8 replica ecosystems: Tundra → Caves → Mountains → Streams → Rivers → Wetlands → Coasts → Ocean, inspired by real places in British Columbia (pictured below). Along the way, they will encounter animatronics, glaciers, forests, rainstorms, waterfalls, whirlpools, and more, made possible using live physical sets, special effects, and real flowing water.
Technical Analysis
While the entire team worked together to generate the concept, the technical breakdown of Expedition Eco was primarily completed by Jared Walker.
The novel ride system places groups of 8 in a gondola in which they are free to sit or roam around. Each side of the gondola features large display screens as windows, immersing the guests in spectacular scenes, like in the waters of a salmon run or rushing over the side of a waterfall. Transitions to physical sets outside the gondola are done using an electric smart-glass material on the outer door window.
Innovation
World of Water’s implementation of 3D motion tracking and RFID devices for guest-interaction moments was primarily developed by Nicklas Lee. As guests enjoy the walkthrough portion of the attraction, they are able to cause changes in the environment and set pieces with their movements and actions.
