SJD Hospital

Interactive Experience

When

Who

What

2022

DDS/Fil Studio

Interactive Experience

Portals into the wild

Helping hospitalised children get closer to nature

For as long as humans have existed, we have understood the healing properties found in nature. However, young patients at the Pediatric Cancer Centre in Barcelona, often face a long recovery, in which play, and contact with the great outdoors is sadly missing or hard to obtain.

With Domestic Data Streamers and Fil Studio, SMASH was tasked with creating an immersive and interactive world - giving the children a place to play and hopefully ease what must be a traumatic time.

Evoking wonder

Creating a magical forest

The virtual forest transports visitors to the nature and hills surrounding the SJD Children's Hospital in Barcelona. The forest features animals native to the area, and a touchpad provides educational information about them. This installation combines education and enchantment to create a unique and memorable experience.

The world of the experience is tied to local time, offering a unique experience depending on when you visit. At night, an entirely new adventure awaits.

Creating a custom engine

A world within
a browser

Given the nature of the project, we needed to be able to run updates and test things on the fly. Our extensive knowledge of WebGL gave us the confidence to meet these requirements and run our virtual world exclusively in a custom-designed engine built upon three.js.

Multiple interactions and characters
flow seamlessly in real-time,
creating a dynamic experience.

Simulating the set-up

Testing, testing,
one, two, three

In addition to the main world, we developed a virtual viewing environment that simulated the experience. The camera angles within the 3D software were calibrated with the screens at the installation, aligning the objects and animations perfectly with the viewer's perspective.