HONG KONG — WPP creative company Superunion has partnered with Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, an iconic hospitality and retail destination in Chengdu, China, to launch its first virtual experience, The Temple. Created in collaboration with a team of international artists and launched on WeChat, the immersive platform celebrates the brand’s cultural heritage and contemporary spirit, and its unrivaled reputation as a patron and collector of the arts.
The concept of The Temple is inspired by the ancient Daci Temple that lies at the heart of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, a unique urban destination in Chengdu that combines hospitality, shopping, dining, and entertainment experiences, all set amongst restored lanes, mansions, and courtyards dating back to the Tang and Qing Dynasties.
The Temple was created as a virtual gallery and exhibition space to showcase curated products, experiences, and works from contemporary artists. By combining cutting-edge technology, motion design, and artistic expression, The Temple acts as a platform for experiential creativity, designed to engage global audiences and position Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu at the forefront of brand experience innovation.
The inspiration behind The Temple was to create a sanctuary outside the limits of time and space, designed as a spiritual home of digital arts and self-expression. A place for infinite imagination and creativity, it is constructed across three distinct spaces – The House of Light, The Blossom Garden, and The Infinity Tower.
With its surreal digital art pieces, The Temple invites the viewer on a journey of discovery, creating a sense of wonder through color, texture, and form. Each of the rooms hosts an interaction inspired by rituals within the Daci Temple, from visualizations of releasing a koi carp and interactive singing bowls to water meditation.
Superunion partnered with artists Sébastien Labrunie, Lu Yi, Gianluca Crudele, and Zhang Tiantian to create the inaugural exhibition for The Temple, called Inclusion and Embrace, which celebrates the diversity and inclusive nature of Chengdu and its people. A collection of immersive installations and digital artworks, on display for the first time, transported the viewer into the artists’ reflections on inclusion from three perspectives: the city, its people, and an individual.
Evocative copy was also created to enhance the dreamlike sensorial experience in combination with visuals. Poetic narratives were crafted for each room to highlight milestones on the journey, guiding the viewer.
Superunion worked with Le Polish Bureau, a specialist technical partner, who provided creative code and motion graphics for the platform. The seamless mobile-first experience was developed in PlayCanvas, a powerful WebGL game engine. The sound was custom designed by TwoAM.
Tim Brown, creative director at Superunion, said, “It was a privilege to partner with Sino Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu and bring together technology and artistic craft in an immersive digital experience for the brand. This is a truly unique place that combines over a thousand years of history and cutting-edge modern retail, and our challenge was to capture and reimagine this sense of place, so it could be experienced from anywhere. It’s been a great opportunity to collaborate with contemporary artists, a dream for any designer, and also to showcase our expertise in experience design combined with creative technology.”
Jessica Tan, digital creative director, at Superunion, said, “In the not-so-distant future, our phones will become windows into the metaverse, and immersive digital platforms will become a part of our daily lives, offering us new experiences and new technologies at our fingertips. The next generation of internet and design offers brands unprecedented opportunities to engage with their audiences, to stand out and to lead, and to set their own creativity free. It’s fantastic to see Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu at the forefront of this digital innovation, and we look forward to new artistic collaborations that will continue to push the boundaries of creativity.”
CREDITS
Superunion:
Creative Director – Tim Brown
Senior Designer – Kitty Chan
Client Director – Claudia Li
Client Manager – Eugenia Chui
PRESS RELEASE
6 December, 2022
Creative Digital Director – Jessica Tan
Creative Developer – Paola Demichelis
Senior Strategist – Irene Wu
Senior Strategist – Doris Wu
Artists:
Space 1 – Sébastien Labrunie and Lu Yi
Space 2 – Gianluca Crudele
Space 3 – Zhang Tiantian
Le Polish Bureau:
Technical Director – Maciej Zasada
Project Manager – Cezary Lewczuk
Art Director – Mariusz Kucharczyk
UX/UI Designer – Krzysztof Rejek
3D Designer – Marta Stelmaszewska
Back End Developer – Abirafdi Raditya Putra
Front End Developer – Piotr Szydłowski
PlayCanvas Developer – Anton Matrosov
WeChat Expert – Ethan Chiu
QA Tester – Cezary Lewczuk
Two AM Music Global:
Music and Sound Directors – Oliver Stutz & Kit Kuan Leong
Sound Designers – Jason Lee, Jesslyn Tong, Shir Li Lau, Ian Khoo
Composers – Adrienne Yong, Prisca Leong, Oliver Stutz, Adriane Palikat, Sek Hao Ho Executive Producer – Wira Chon
