Ting Han Chen · CLIENT: Play Design Lab
Vigilscape reconfigures a conventional mortuary setting into a calm, dignified space through environmental projections and generative cloud and particle visuals. Scenes unfold at a measured tempo aligned with ceremonial cadence, creating temporal progression without demanding attention or interaction. The design offers configurable modes for different ritual contexts, enabling a single room to support Buddhist, Christian, and other faith responsive needs through backend scene switching, while maintaining operational flexibility for staff and a quiet atmosphere for families and practitioners.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- A slow-technology immersive space for chanting rituals, this project uses environmental projections and algorithmic cloud-particle scenes unfolding at a measured tempo aligned with ceremonial cadence. Rather than creating a spectacle, the system is designed to provide calmness, dignity, and psychological comfort during moments of farewell.
Its distinctive value lies in enabling one ordinary mortuary room to serve multiple faith-based ritual needs through configurable projection modes and backend-controlled interactive guidance. This allows funeral service staff to quickly adapt the atmosphere and ceremonial content for Buddhist, Christian, and other religious contexts without requiring separate dedicated spaces. By integrating multi-faith flexibility, spatial efficiency, and culturally sensitive experience design, the project offers both operational value for service providers and a more respectful, personalized environment for grieving families. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Wall projection installations with edge-blended panoramic playback; particle-driven visuals with programmable parameters (mode selection, tempo, motif density, session duration). Timeline choreography triggers milestone motifs at set intervals.
- Tags
- virtual installation, digital art installation, projection mapping, generative particles, slow technology, ambient interface, mourning space, ritual design, transitional architecture, culturally adaptive atmosphere
- Production Technology
- A site-specific three-wall projection environment deployed in the mortuary of Tri-Service General Hospital. Particle-based animations generate culturally attuned atmospheres. Funeral directors select modes (Chinese, Western, Neutral) and run a timeline-based sequence where motifs emerge gradually as symbolic milestones. Ambient soundscapes support contemplative focus without requiring interaction.
- Design Challenge
- The key challenge was designing support without intrusion in a culturally sensitive setting. The room needed to transform a clinical space into a contemplative atmosphere while avoiding spectacle, distraction, or religious mismatch. Achieving this required slow pacing, restrained visual density, and mode-based adaptability that funeral directors could operate reliably in daily practice.
- Project Duration
- The project started in Jun 2024 and was completed in Nov 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan, for the mortuary of Tri-Service General Hospital. The installation has been operated during extended chanting ceremonies, with configuration handled by funeral directors according to family preferences and ritual context.
- Operation Flow
- Operation is intentionally non-intrusive. Staff select one of three cultural modes and start the session. The room then plays a slow, continuous sequence where imagery unfolds over time and milestone motifs appear at intervals, giving families a sense of progression during long chanting rituals. No user interaction is required, preserving ritual attention.
- Research
- Type of Research: practice-based design research. Research Objectives: apply slow technology and ambient design to support long mourning rituals. Methodology: site implementation + temporal choreography design. Data Collection and Research Tools Used: observation, informal interviews, photos/diagrams/annotations. Participants or Experiments: mortuary director, funeral staff, families in ritual use. Results: improved sense of temporal progression and cultural fit. Insights and Impacts: configurable, slow-paced atmospheres can reframe mortuary rooms as transitional spaces. Effect: informs emotionally sensitive immersive architecture.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the need to ease families’ anxiety in conventional mortuary chanting rooms, the project draws on grief-support research, ritual cadence observation, and slow technology design principles. Generative particle imagery and environmental projection mapping were developed as a controllable time-scale ambience, offering culturally adaptable modes without intrusive interaction.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Wonann Funeral Technology Co., Ltd. and Tri-Service General Hospital Mortuary
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