First off, huge thanks to Kerry, Sarah and the team at Christchurch International Airport Ltd, and Nick and the crew from Christchurch Adventure Park for making this one possible!

To date, this is the largest single installation of my work anywhere. I’ve had billboards before, but this is a whole different level. A complete immersive experience inside the new Gate 15 transit area and walkways at Christchurch Airport. Made up of 8 different scenes, covering the entirety of the air-side transit area and adjoining walkways.

This was a long project, finally being officially unveiled on Thursday 11th of July 2019, it had been set in motion in November 2018. With a space as large and as complex as this, much preparation and planning was needed to create the effect that was required by the client. We needed the imagery to make sense both from the top looking down perspective (leaving to go to the plane) and bottom travelling up perspective (disembarking entering airport). We needed the tone and feel to be right, and on brand, for both parties.

The idea was to simulate standing at the top point of the Aventure Park, with correct orientation, looking out towards the East and West elevations respectively. Due to the nature of the internal architecture and the way the hills work, this was no easy feat. Colours and lighting needed to match to give a fluid and cohesive feel to the space.

For this space, we required single scenes up to 10 metres in length in places, so to provide the best detail, and to create a compression effect where the backgrounds are pulled in, every image was shot as an action-panorama. Some scenes are made up of 30+ frames, providing mega levels of detail when blown up to these sizes, resulting in an ultra-sharp looking finished product.

I want to thank all the riders, models, stand-ins, and crew that made this happen.
Nick Dwan for assisting with shoots, additional design work by Kerry Mitchell, City Care for prepping the site, and AdGraphix for printing and installing the imagery.

Please keep an eye out next time you’re flying in/out.