Mel McGowan creatively leads Storyland Studios’ unique Spatial Storytelling practice, integrating master planning, conceptual development, architecture, interior and production design, graphics and wayfinding, and dimensional fabrication and installation. McGowan has a background in film and design and is a veteran Disney storyteller.
McGowan, who started working for the Walt Disney Company in 1990, told blooloop: “I was there through what we called the Disney decade, 1990 towards the end of 1999. My most significant project for over five years was working on the California expansion.”
He is passionate about creating compelling experiences and immersive environments. After working at Disney, Mel McGowan co-founded Visioneering and PlainJoe Studios. He is the author of Design Intervention and an adjunct professor at CBU’s College of Architecture, Visual Arts & Design.
Storyland Studios, a global experience design and strategy firm composed of former Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Creative and Merlin Entertainments alumni with offices and staff across the US and Europe, has assembled a world-class creative team of industry leaders across multiple disciplines to create and deliver a broad range of themed environments, both spatial and interactive, from concept to opening day.
Over the last few years, Storyland has assembled and enhanced an expert team of “Avengers”: discipline leaders with extensive professional experience in the architecture and themed entertainment industries who bring a wealth of knowledge from the world’s top leisure, hospitality, and entertainment properties.
“These architects and artists have grown up with storytelling as their first language,” says McGowan.