Client
Lightroom
Location
London, UK
Collaborators
Haworth Tompkins, London Theatre Company
Sector
Attractions & Theme Parks
Location-Based Entertainment
Retail & Consumer Experience
Services Provided:
Strategy
Experience Masterplanning & Placemaking
Business Case & Technical Feasibility
Vision, Positioning & Value Proposition
Story
Creative Concepting & Experience Mapping
Narrative Development
Scripting & Messaging
Voice, Tone, Accessibility & Localization
Filmmaking & Animation
Design
Immersive Media Design
Sound Design
Experience Design
Delivery
Program & Project Management
Technical Direction & Production Management
Vendor/Fabrication Procurement & Oversight
Installation, Integration & Commissioning
Marketing Content
Challenge
To create a new kind of immersive venue dedicated to storytelling. Lightroom needed a flexible platform where artists, filmmakers, musicians and thinkers could create experiences that combine sound, motion and light at an unprecedented scale.
Solution
Working alongside London Theatre Company and architects Haworth Tompkins, Journey helped define the vision, strategy and creative framework for Lightroom. Together, we created a four-wall canvas for immersive storytelling, designed to support a diverse program of experiences from some of the world’s leading artists, creatives and innovators.
“A breathtaking triumph.”
– The Independent
Our partner in this endeavor was London Theatre Company, drawing on our collective experience of designing and producing work for the stage. We also worked closely with architects Haworth Tompkins, who helped bring the lauded Bridge Theatre to life in 2017.
Together, we designed Lightroom as a space in which we, in collaboration with some of the world’s greatest artists, thinkers, creatives and innovators, develop work that combines the scale and spectacle of immersive experiences with a focus on new forms of storytelling. Lightroom presents pioneering work that brings together a diverse range of design and narrative disciplines.
Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More
Celebrating Aardman’s 50th anniversary, Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun and More invites audiences inside the joyful, anarchic worlds of some of Britain’s most beloved characters, while revealing the imagination, craftsmanship and people behind them.
The 50-minute looping show brings together iconic cinematic moments, rarely seen archival material and bespoke new animation, surrounding audiences with the characters, stories and creative process that have shaped Aardman over five decades.
“It’s a thrill to see Aardman’s worlds leap off the screen and into this spectacular immersive experience… It’s a wonderful new chapter for these characters, blending our stop-motion heritage with cutting-edge magic to bring everyone right into the center of the action.”
– Nick Park, Creator of Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Creature Comforts, Aardman
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is conceived as both a 360° spectacle and an intimate self-portrait, and is told using David Bowie’s own voice alone, constructed from hundreds of interviews recorded across six decades. Rather than commentary or narration by others, Bowie guides audiences through his thinking, his influences, and his creative philosophy, revealing the man behind the icon in his own words.
Audiences are invited to feel as though they have traveled through time, encountering Bowie in performance up close and first-hand, within an environment where image, sound, light, and space are inseparable.
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs
Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs was developed in close collaboration with Apple TV+.
Narrated by critically acclaimed actor Damian Lewis, the show celebrates our natural world through captivating storytelling, breathtaking visuals and groundbreaking technology. Lightroom’s state-of-the-art 360° projections allow viewers to see these majestic animals at an awe-inspiring, never-before-seen scale and travel alongside them through volcanoes, soaring skies and the deep sea.
“★★★★ It’s thrilling to see battling dreadnoughtus, courting tyrannosaurs, and sweet baby sauropods at huge, almost overwhelming scale.”
– Time Out
“★★★★ Delivered with pin-sharp photorealist graphics, the sequences that feel freshest take us to unexpected settings.”
– The Times
VOGUE: Inventing the Runway
VOGUE: Inventing the Runway is a cinematic journey through the evolution of the fashion runway. Narrated by Cate Blanchett, the experience draws on Vogue’s unparalleled archive and global network of contributors to spotlight the voices and visions that have shaped fashion, past, present and future. It’s the closest you can get to seeing a fashion show without being there.
The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks
In collaboration with Tom Hanks, Journey also designed and directed The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, which tells the story of the Apollo lunar missions. Through immersive video and audio design, the show takes audiences on a thrilling journey all the way to the moon and back.
“There are times when I have seen it and I’m thinking, why are the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now? You can’t just say it’s because of the words that you’re hearing, you can’t just say it’s only the image, you can’t just say it’s this phenomenal score. It’s that playing of it all together and when that happens, I think you’re in the hands of damn good storytellers.”
– Tom Hanks, Co-creator and Narrator, The Moonwalkers
David Hockney: Bigger and Closer
Early successes include Lightroom’s inaugural show, David Hockney: Bigger and Closer (not smaller and further away), which we developed over three years. Narrated by Hockney himself, the show plays with scale, spectacle and intimacy to give audiences fresh perspectives into the life and work of one of the world’s greatest living artists.
Impact
2.5m+
visitors to Lightroom shows worldwide
7 cities
presenting Lightroom shows, from London and Manchester to Houston, Seoul and Shanghai