Escape to Nature

Alexander Twaddle

The interaction reveals itself as you walk closer to the store front located in the top back corner of the shopping mall. The sound of turbulent wind appears as you walk closer and what appears to be particles of snow begin to spill into the mall from one of the store fronts. Looking into the store front, the player is greeted by a transitional space usually seen in traditional japanese architecture. This is a space that acts as a gateway to nature which lies on the back most wall of the room. Upon entering the space, the sound of wind and snow becomes louder.  As you touch the back wall you are immediately transported to the middle of a frozen lake during a snowstorm with towering mountains in the distance. 

The focus of this interaction is to provide a startling transition between two contrasting Experiences. The mall as a backdrop symbolizes in many ways the destination to satisfy an addiction for new products. In these spaces every sort of product is readily available and buying items to fulfills a vision or lifestyle that we have for yourself. Retail therapy and compulsive consumption are the expected norm in these spaces.  

Because of this, these spaces are completely void of opportunities to grow and become mindful in ways  that help people truly connect with themselves and others. Connection to nature is a fundamental part of growing in mindfulness. That experience can’t find windows hoping or walking through a shopping plaza. But what if the desire to connect to nature was placed on display as if it was being sold in a store front? How could that experience speak to people's desire to reconnect with nature?