“Before starting to design a project for an amusement park, it is a good rule to do a thorough research of the history of the place where the park will be built, the geography, the culture and the local traditions” explains Matteo Castagna, Theme Park Designer at Team Park Project. It is a fundamental step that must guide our design choices.
The research is at the basis of the Concept Design, the creative phase by definition, in which much of the success (or failure) of an amusement park is determined. It is in this phase that the ideas start taking shape with the creation of the park’s identity, the theme, the storytelling, and the setting.
Often you have to design parks in faraway and unknown places. The challenge is to create settings and scenography that will please the locals, inspired by stories and tales that are often totally foreign to us.
It is the case of Skazka Family Park, in Moscow. We needed to reorganize the park, as it had unrelated attractions with themes and settings that were sometimes unsuitable for the place and its visitors.
Before starting to design, we studied the Russian tales and legends, which introduced us to characters like the witch Baba Jaga, the snow maiden Sneguročka, and the valiant Bogatyr, heroic medieval warriors. It made us discover fascinating stories and relationships that we could use for the theming of the park.
Only by following this path, we can create captivating designs with credible stories for the visitors. Only in this way people will be able to recognize themselves in the characters that inhabit it and decide to take part in the collective story that is told.
To learn more about our approach to park design, visit the TPP Framework section.