Google — KarenMacPherson

Curiosity Rooms: Google

The Curiosity Rooms were a series of highly immersive, shareable and intriguing experiences, located in the Old Hotel at London’s iconic Selfridges store. It was a playground for inquisitive minds; letting consumers explore experiential environments focusing on consumer trends to launch Google’s P2 smartphone.

Role + Responsibilities

Curiosity Rooms: Google

Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide
Role: Senior Designer
Responsibility: Design, space planning and specification of overall exhibition space (and set areas within it)
- Environmental Styling
- Space Planning
- Interior Design
- Material and Finnishes Spec
- Detailing for build
- On Site Dressing

Areas of Ownership

Holding and updating the master model and use of the overall space was my main task. Individual areas of ownership within this were as follows:

Animal Atelier (50%)
Daydream Forrest
Doughnut Shop
Google Home
Scent Spectrum
Main Stage
Pixel Portraits* (20%)
Smaller Plenary Area (75%)
Product Demo Tables
Product Display Table
Breakout Lounges / Seating Areas (50%)
Reception / Cloakroom / Toilets (50%)
Pixel Portraits* (20%)
*Pixel Portaits was created and managed by Flashpack

Role Within JMW Team

My role within the team at JMW was to model, design and oversee the use of the space at Selfridges. I was also responsible for designing the individual experiences and spaces within this, listed in the ‘Areas of Ownership’ column on the left.

All of these areas were designed around a current consumer trend at the time. I’ve included a brief summary for some of less self explanatory areas:

Animal Atelier - This unmistakably pink room was designed to highlight the fashion trend of embroidery and embellishment. Guests were invited to take a short quiz in order to find out what their inner animal would be, before posing with a life size model of that animal, and receiving their own corresponding embroidered patch as a takeaway.

Daydream Forest - Houseplants were top of the lifestyle trend list, so we created an elevated greenhouse that accommodated
a small lounge and VR demo experience where guests were transported into different worlds via Google’s Daydream VR headset.

Doughnut Shop - The Google Home’s tagline, “The size of a doughnut. The power of a superhero” inspired the doughnut shop and bar area where guests could grab a seat, recharge their phones and take a moment to enjoy a sweet treat.

Scent Spectrum - In ‘Scent Spectrum’ guests took a journey through time by sniffing a series of unlabelled scents to see what and where they were reminded of. They were then able to blend their selected scents to create a unique and personalised fragrance as a small takeaway.

Please note that due to tight deadlines, there was no visualisation for this project. Client sign off came directly from model screen grabs and I moved directly into detailing packs for each area from the master model.