Wētā Workshop, a creative services company combining artistry and innovation, is celebrating the launch of the TCM Cultural Experience Center at the Guangdong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park, China.
Designed by Wētā Workshop’s co-founder and chief creative officer Richard Taylor, together with his team and in close partnership with Wellington and China-based creative practitioners and companies, the Center features a lotus petal-shaped building, enormous hyper-realistic figures, magical forests, and a futuristic herbal laboratory.
Flagship facility
The Guangdong-Macao Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park is home to offices, research and development centres, hotels, retail areas, an experience centre, pharmaceutical plants, testing and extraction centres, and staff accommodation, among other amenities.
Spanning 36,000 square metres and five floors, the TCM Cultural Experience Center is a standout feature of the park and serves as a flagship facility for the health sector and an exemplar of cultural integration in the Greater Bay Area.
Here, a fully immersive experience brings the culture of traditional Chinese medicine to life, taking guests on a journey from its mythological origins to innovative contemporary practices, and beyond.
The natural approach to medicine is a vitally important component of Chinese wellbeing, and the TCM Cultural Experience Center seeks to inspire new generations to learn about this critical cultural practice.
Working in close partnership with client Hengxin Shambala and creative collaborator Sam Gao, Wētā Workshop’s head of creative media, Taylor worked for more than seven years to realise the project.
“For me it was critical to approach the subject with a deep sense of commitment, and to learn all that I could of the mythology, history, science, and culture of this fascinating subject,” says Taylor. “By exploring the use of herbal medicine over centuries of Chinese wellbeing, a complex and intriguing story begins to unfold.”
‘Utterly unique cultural exhibition’
The TCM Cultural Experience Center marks Wētā Workshop’s biggest project yet. As the company’s second large-scale immersive experience project in China, it follows the 2022 completion of the acclaimed attraction Aura: The Forest at the Edge of the Sky at the duty-free shopping mall in Haikou, Hainan Island.
See also: Aura: The Forest at the Edge of the Sky – redefining mall experiences
For Taylor and the team at Wētā Workshop, the TCM Cultural Experience Center project is particularly notable. Not only is the attraction significant in terms of size and scale, but also the depth and breadth of the team’s research and design, from the building itself to the cultural storylines within.
“As I have spent close to three decades working in China, it came as an extraordinary treat to work so comprehensively on something as monumental as this experience. What started as a white board drawing in my office now stands as a magnificent structure containing an utterly unique cultural exhibition,” says Taylor.
“This was a very special project that is testament to the tight collaboration and creative exchange between two teams — one in New Zealand, and one in China — united by the collective endeavour of creating the world’s most unique TCM Cultural Experience Center.”
Gao, who collaborated closely with Taylor on the project’s creative direction and practical sculpting elements, says: “Despite the challenges of often having to work remotely, the project was immensely fulfilling and brought together people from China mainland and Macau, alongside our own Workshop team in New Zealand.
“On a more personal level, it was an honour to share my creative expertise on a project that celebrates traditional Chinese medicine and brings to life stories from my cultural upbringing.”
Artistry & smart tech
Visitors to the TCM Cultural Experience Center first encounter its distinctive architecture, which sets the scene and honours the herbal plants that are at the heart of traditional Chinese medicine. Inside, visitors will find numerous exhibits, including hyper-realistic oversized figures that represent key moments from Chinese culture. These include Hua Tuo, Zhang Zhongjing and Li Shi Zhen.
Other exhibits, such as a 50-metre-long animated ‘historical tapestry’, bring together creative expertise and interactive smart tech throughout the Center. The central atrium presents the story of Shen Nong with a large-scale mural on the ceiling, from which 100 birds fly down towards the ground floor and connect all five of the building’s floors.
Taylor and Gao aimed to facilitate and link two creative teams. With design and fabrication from their base in Wellington, Wētā Workshop collaborated with New Zealand-based designers, a composer, architects, and lighting designers for this unique project. Additionally, Taylor and Gao, together with the client, art-directed dozens of highly skilled Chinese creatives and technicians to complete the center.
“This project is the cumulation of a near three-decade long relationship that I have had with China, and celebrates the strong creative exchange we have established with friends and colleagues in both countries,” says Taylor.
The TCM Cultural Experience Center adds to Wētā Workshop’s expanding worldwide portfolio of immersive experience projects, including major projects in New Zealand, China and the Middle East.
Earlier this year, Wētā Workshop marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa).
