NAGASHIMA PLAYLAND

Areas:
Amusement-sensory space: 90,000 sqm
Hotel: 50,000 sqm
Imax Theater: 2000 sqm

Sen-Sphere-Sational (from the words sensory sensation and zone or realm)
This project has itﾕs site at an existing amusement park that houses the largest wood Jet coaster in the world in Nagoya, Japan. The request from the client was to redesign the amusement park with a theme for the 21st century. As we become farther removed from nature due to our ever expanding technology this adventure is a call for a return to nature, the nature of our sensorial world. It is a place to re-experience those events and senses though games, rides, interactive displays, etc. that keep one coming back for more. Not only because it is fun but because it touches ones inner nature where we have an inner dialogue with ourselves. The overall inspiration for this place is derived from the energy from nature whether from the wind, the tides, the earth, or the planets. A main theme for the virtual-sensory event zones is the sense of weightlessness as expressed in the forms of a building that combines floor, walls, and ceilings into one continuous surrounding and expanding surface giving freedom to the Cartesian world.

The main thrust of this place is the expanding of the bounds of our sensory experience, these fall into the two realms of the virtual and the real. These zones can be imagined to have some of the following experiences to name just a few; sensory clear zone- like an anti-deprivation chamber, exaggerated space, warped space, sound experiences, visual experiences, gravity experiences, motion experiences, relaxation tunnel, etc., etc.

The main spaces include a hotel, convention center, hot springs, garden, virtual and real amusement spaces. The primary amusement area houses the sensory and virtual zones with a relaxing modern Japanese garden at the center of the sphere. This space is overlooked by the hotel and hot springs that have a dramatic view of the ocean. It is surrounded by the hotel that provides a buffer from the more active zones and this garden flows into the ocean. The Imax theater is positioned to be experienced at the juncture of the entrance while the convention area is found on the more quiet zone facing the ocean. On the periphery of the site a rethinking of the traditional amusement park rides coupled with a lush sense of nature that will enhance both experiences. The virtual spaces will be mainly housed within the closed continuous mobus space. This shape was generated by the tracing of a curve along two other curves that had opposite directions, thus producing a continuous curve that seems appropriate for the sense and feeling of no-gravity.