Storyland Studios shares approach to imagining & creating story-driven spaces & experiences
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.
From its earliest roots working with cause-based organisations, the firm’s unprecedented growth has paved the way for engagement in major projects handling some of the most well-known IPs worldwide today.
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 Storyland’s chief creative officer, Mel McGowan.
Jeff Damron, Storyland’s senior vice president of master planning and design, adds: “We’re bringing extensive knowledge and experience to the table, and we’re looking forward to doing things in a much bigger way.”
End-to-end solutions
The creative team, spearheaded by McGowan, is made up of two divisions. Damron, an architect, master planner, and former associate vice president of themed entertainment and leisure at AECOM, leads the project design team. Christian Hope, senior vice president of creative development at Storyland, former VP of design and creative development at Paramount, and Walt Disney Imagineering alum, leads the creative development team.
“Jeff and Christian are the left brain and right brain,” says McGowan. “Jeff is involved with every project just as early as Christian because of his experience as a master planner. He’s doing the very first pencil-to-paper sketches, and he understands the complexity and discipline it takes to orchestrate large-scale projects.”
“It’s never a one-man show. You need that kind of complementary relationship.”
Damron says this team structure keeps architects involved in project development from start to finish.
Since Storyland can handle a project from BlueSky to construction administration, its staff can provide architectural, conceptual, and creative solutions. The firm can transform artistic visions into story-driven spatial experiences by translating creative concepts into schematic designs and construction paperwork.
“We’ve got an incredibly talented group of architects, landscape architects, interior designers, graphics people, wayfinding people, creative designers, writers, and show set designers so that we can tackle just about any major entertainment-driven project of any scale,” Damron says.
A multidisciplinary team
Because of its multidisciplinary team, Storyland has achieved true continuity throughout its projects’ many stages.
“By being able to start a project from day one and see it through to opening day, you get continuity of team, continuity of resources, and you build that knowledge from day one to day one-thousand, or however long it takes before the project opens,” says Kevin Blakeney, Storyland’s director of master planning. “You have all that learned history that you’re not losing throughout the process as you trade off teams.
“Companies that pass the baton from phase to phase, or from company to company, don’t get quite as much tribal knowledge throughout the phases of the project. I think that’s the biggest benefit of taking the process all the way through like we do at Storyland. It’s less of a patchwork and more of a collective, collaborative effort within the same container, where every decision is made for a reason.”
The ability to handle complex, major projects in-house also amplifies the trust among members of the creative team.
“We have reliable sources and trusted team members,” says senior creative director Johnny Davis. “I know every facet of a design is going to be as excellent as they can make it.”
See also: How storytelling can transform an island: Storyland Studios’ plans for Porto Boega
Inspired by the early days of Imagineering
Storyland’s ethos and team synergy were originally inspired by WED Enterprises, now known as Walt Disney Imagineering. Walt Disney initially planned to hire a typical architectural firm to master plan Disneyland. Instead, his neighbour—a renowned architect—suggested that he hire art directors who knew how to tell stories in space. So Disney assigned concept artists to dream up his environment and then brought in architects who could translate those concepts into construction drawings.
Storyland has taken cues from Disney’s approach to assembling a wide array of talents, skill sets, and areas of expertise.
“WED Enterprises was Walt’s happy place, where you have that cross-fertilization of all the different disciplines represented,” says McGowan, formerly of the Walt Disney Company. “It has that familial culture, but also a rich diversity. In terms of spatial storytelling, you need that motley crew of artists, architects, artisans, and accountants.”
“I believe Storyland is a company that’s closest to the original Walt Disney Imagineering that I recall from when I first started working there, back in the 80s and 90s. So that’s a wonderful thing to be a part of,” says Hope. “Imagineering, to me, was like the little light that moths are attracted to, that we all moved toward. That sort of feeling, that ethos, has been transposed into this company now.”
Collaboration, purpose, and friendship
Several of Storyland’s discipline leaders have been colleagues and friends for decades, even working on the same projects together. These leaders had extensive experience working together before joining Storyland, whether for the same organisation or in a client-vendor relationship.
“Our creative design group has been ingrained at Storyland for 20 years or longer, and that creative team was energized even more so with the addition of Christian Hope,” Damron says. “It has been a decades-long interaction, and we’re doing it in a very intentional way. It’s why people are talking a lot about Storyland and what our possibilities are.”
Underpinning this broad range of capabilities and camaraderie is Storyland’s mission to lift the Spirit.
“We don’t think superficially,” Hope says. “There’s a purposeful approach to the design and the types of projects we bring into the studio. There’s a deeper goal to uplift people and allow them to ponder wonderful things. That’s what we were bringing to the world.”
But lifting the Spirit isn’t limited to the projects Storyland imagines, designs, and creates. It extends to the team’s people-centric culture, too.
“We push a sense of community in the work we do and cultivate that sense of community within the team and the people we work with on a daily basis,” says Storyland’s art director Juliane Ramadan. There’s genuine care for everyone on the team and for the projects we’re doing.”
“There’s a very servant-led culture,” adds Rob Moffat, Storyland’s director of landscape and area development. “I think that’s really valuable.”
As Storyland’s story unfolds, the team has plenty of surprises in store—and a bright future ahead.
“Our in-house artists and designers are some of the best in the world, and the proof is in the pudding,” Damron says. “Our international work is off the charts right now, and we’re getting calls left and right for people wanting to experience what Storyland can offer.”
Storyland Studios recently announced the members of the industry expert judging panel for its 2024 Design Challenge. The firm is also sponsoring the blooloop 50 Immersive Influencer List 2024, which is now open for nominations.
Article originally published on blooloop.com