《Walala Mansion》
“我喜欢在公共空间工作，因为你可以触及很多人。这个新的装置在繁华的香港市中心创造了一个色彩缤纷、互动性强的游乐场。它是一个乐趣的绿洲！这是迄今为止我最大的装置之一，尽管它是一个充气结构，但我们必须与一群建筑师紧密合作——基本上它就是一个建筑。” —— 卡米耶·瓦拉拉（Camille Walala）
受邀参加香港设计区户外节，卡米耶从她在第15届伦敦设计节上的项目Villa Walala中汲取灵感，在香港维多利亚公园打造了一个巨大、色彩斑斓且极具感染力的游乐装置。这个装置充满了罗马拱门和弯曲的柱子，旨在向历史悠久的伦敦豪宅致敬，同时也是对英国流行文化的庆祝。它与构成背景的现代办公大楼干净利落的灰色玻璃外墙形成鲜明对比，呈现出一种狂野而不羁的视觉冲击。
Walala Mansion的体验从维多利亚公园铜锣湾入口处的LED屏幕开始，卡米耶用鲜艳的颜色和大胆的圆点图案装饰了这里。沿着中央草坪继续前行，游客们将面对一个雄心勃勃的13米高充气结构，周围散落着各种有趣的家具，还有由香港工作室Hattrick Creative创作的一系列增强现实体验相伴。
Walala Mansion是工作室迄今为止最大的装置之一，建造和安装过程极其复杂且充满挑战，需要协调一支多元化的国际团队来完成。来自英国的卡米耶·瓦拉拉和朱莉娅·乔马（Julia Jomaa）与澳大利亚的充气设计专家、中国的制造商以及香港的活动团队合作——直到安装当天，这些团队成员才第一次见面。尽管面临物流上的挑战，Mansion还是成功安装，并迅速成为了香港设计区最受瞩目的特色之一。
Walala Mansion
“I love working in public spaces because you can reach so many people. This new installation creates a boisterously colourful, interactive playscape in the heart of Hong Kong. It’s an oasis of fun! It’s quite enormous, one of my biggest installations to date. Despite it being an inflatable, we had to work really closely with a team of architects – it’s basically a building.” – Camille Walala
Invited to take part in the open-air festival Design District Hong Kong, Camille took inspiration from her project Villa Walala for the 15th edition of London Design Festival and created a huge, colourful and infectiously playful installation in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. Full of Roman arches and curved pillars, the installation was designed to be a whimsical, visually arresting homage to the historic London mansion as well as a celebration of British pop culture. It presented an exuberantly unruly contrast to the clean-lined grey glass facades of the modern office blocks that formed its backdrop.
The experience of Walala Mansion began at the LED screen at Causeway Bay entrance to Victoria Park, which Camille adorned with vibrant colours and bold dot patterns. Continuing along the central lawn brought visitors face to face with an ambitious 13-metre inflatable structure with playful furniture pieces scattered around it, accompanied by a series of AR experiences created by Hong Kong studio Hattrick Creative.
Walala Mansion was one of the studio’s largest installations to date, and construction and installation proved a highly complex and challenging process, that required the coordination of a diverse international team to pull off. From the UK, Camille Walala and Julia Jomaa worked with inflatable design specialists based in Australia, makers in China and the Hong Kong events team – none of whom met in person until the day of installation. Despite the logistical challenges, the Mansion was successfully installed, and swiftly became of Design District Hong Kong’s most talked about features.
