Studio X created Magica Botanica for Swire - a 25,000 sqft immersive installation, designed to slow people down and make Pacific Place a destination rather than a route.
Studio X was appointed by Swire to create an immersive installation spanning the arcade at Pacific Place, designed to slow traffic through the mall and strengthen its standing as a destination.
Process
Concept Design
Schematic Design
Detail Design
Tender Documentation
Tender Management
Construction Support
Post-Completion Review
Our concept took plant species from Hong Kong's own jungle and showed them where nobody expects to find them: Real leaves, cast in polyester resin to seal them from the air and hold their colour, suspended in illuminated orbs down the length of the arcade.
The point was not decoration. A mall arcade is a place people move through quickly, and every second of dwell time has commercial value. Making people stop and look was the brief.
The app turned the arcade into a treasure hunt across three zones: trees, flowers and herbs. Quizzes, leaderboards and return prompts kept people moving through it, and redemptions tied to Pacific Place retailers turned attention into footfall the tenants could see. The installation stopped being something you walk past and became a reason to come back.
A view across the mall void at a large cluster of orbs, visible at all levels of the mall.
A view looking up at one one the orbs, each one receiving solar energy from above.
The prototype app that we designed to encourage people to journey through the experience and learn.
An arcade that people hurry through earns less than one they stop in. So we made twenty-five thousand square feet of it notice them.
Selected views
(Approach)We proposed scholarships for underprivileged Hong Kong school children, to do the foraging - so the scheme's material came from the city it was about.
Floor plan showing the store layout - zoned to balance product browsing, technology interaction, and the Health Pod consultation area within a 3,200 sqft footprint.
Detailed design drawing of a compact version of the scheme, designed to be deployed in specific areas.
The compact floor standing option, shown here. Each mono-pod conected together with a brass strap with engraved messaging and illustrations.
Magica Botanica was commissioned by Swire Properties, one of the most demanding landlords in Hong Kong, for Pacific Place - a mall whose position depends on being a destination rather than a thoroughfare. Working across a full arcade length rather than a single unit meant designing something that could be read at a distance and held attention up close.
Studio X took the scheme from concept through detailed design to tender, alongside the digital and printed collateral, and developed a reduced floor-standing version when the budget tightened. The project was stopped before installation, so the scheme was never realised.
Up next
