Squint/Opera, the creative studio, has worked with NEOM to create an exhibition in Venice. Zero Gravity Urbanism – Principles for a New Livability is on show until 24 September at Abbazia di San Gregorio.
NEOM is Saudi Arabia’s ‘land of the future’ and is part of the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) Vision 2030. This exhibition presents its concepts for the next generation of urban living to an audience of architects, artists and developers, by integrating immersive, experiential displays with the historic location.
Communicating Zero Gravity Urbanism
Squint/Opera worked with NEOM to develop a visual language that would enable them to communicate the ideas and values of Zero Gravity Urbanism via immersive digital media.
Occurring at the same time as the Venice Biennale, the world’s largest art show, the project needed to be accessible to its broad audience demographic. Not only this, but it needed to be realised in a tight timeframe and to be presented at a huge size.
The venue for the exhibition also presented some unique challenges. The Abbazia di San Gregorio is one of the city’s oldest buildings and dates from the 9th century. Squint/Opera needed to manage the requirements of this historic site together with an extremely busy location. The abbey is located at the entrance to the Grand Canal, the central canal in Venice. This is one of the busiest waterways in the whole of Europe.
The historic structure posed significant architectural and logistical constraints. The team had to move materials along the Grand Canal, obtain pontoon permissions, and handle logistics within the limited building space, which was frequently disrupted by the weather. The abbey’s delicate structure meant that it was not possible to attach anything to the building, and lightweight materials were required to avoid floor damage.
The Flying Landscape
The first exhibit in Zero Gravity Urbanism – Principles for a New Livability is the Flying Landscape, a huge digital installation. This piece describes the size of NEOM’s smart city THE LINE within its vast landscape.
The exhibition continues into a cloistered courtyard, where visitors can learn more about NEOM’s work. The area is lined with freestanding models of zones envisioned by architects such as Sir Peter Cook, Jean Nouvel, and Massimiliano Fuksas.
Visitors will also encounter the fundamental ideas that inform NEOM’s work, shown on a 9×1 LED screen. This sits below the Flying Landscape and offers context to the piece, with a detailed analysis of these founding principles and an explanation of their impact on the development of THE LINE.
Hidden Marina
Upstairs, the exhibition continues with an immersive exhibit about the Hidden Marina, the first area of THE LINE to be realised. A room-sized model offers a cross-section of the marina, and visitors can learn more about the marina’s construction on adjacent screens.
Further rooms describe various NEOM regions such as Trojena and Oxagon, giving visitors an in-depth knowledge of the planned urban environment.
A unique virtual experience room provides a first glimpse at a virtual twin of THE LINE which has been created by Squint/Opera. Visitors can fly across the innovative city, discovering areas that have been meticulously designed using the Unreal 5 engine.
The virtual twin is an extremely effective tool for NEOM to share their city designs. It expedites decision-making processes at all stages of the design process and is especially useful for a complicated, high-concept master plan like THE LINE
Nine screens line the last hallway, and each of these displays a different CGI view of THE LINE. Visitors can move around the screens in a way that is similar to exploring the locations that they depict.
Challenges and creative opportunities
This project was complicated by an array of artistic and logistical issues. However, thanks to its technical expertise and innovative ethos Squint/Opera was able to deliver the exhibition on schedule and to budget. The team’s ability to perform under such demanding circumstances demonstrated their flexibility, originality, and technical knowledge.
Ollie Alsop, project director, Squint/Opera, comments: “Communicating the principles surrounding Zero Gravity Urbanism in such a beautiful and historic setting presented us with numerous challenges but also creative opportunities. The scale of the exhibits and the depth of insight they provide have captured the essence of the project in a way that other exhibitions have been unable to do. I’m really proud of our team for making this happen.”
Squint/Opera recently created a digital twin of Here East, an innovation and technology campus in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The digital twin is used as a communication tool for presentations about the campus and facilitates remote tours.
