Personal Portfolio

The Urban Jungle is bustling, busy, and dynamic, inundated with cars, buses, and lots of people— but it’s also crowded, concrete, and noisy. Disney’s Urban Jungle transforms the concept of an “urban jungle” into an immersive and interactive experience where wildlife meets the metropolis. Guests to the Urban Jungle are invited into the canopy structure to experience the sights and sounds of the jungle – and to imagine and create the animals that live there! The Urban Jungle was conceived by the Carnegie Mellon MPD Team and created for the 2014 Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition.

I served as a designer and team leader of a cross-disciplinary group including designers, engineers and marketing students. I worked with group members to develop our concept and project proposal for the competition entry as well as well other design members to visualize the both pavilion in 3D and the mobile application for the creation of animals in the Urban Jungle.

CLIENT
Disney & Carnegie Mellon University

LOCATION
Pittsburgh, PA

ROLE
UX Designer, Pavilion Design

There are many wonderful urban environments around the world where millions of people live, work and play every day. Select a large and densely populated urban area, and design an experience that temporarily or permanently transforms the city for the enjoyment of its citizens and visitors. The experience must take advantage of existing infrastructure, and may be above, below or anywhere in between existing development.

The project began with research and analysis into what would constitute a "great experience" and a deep dive into the skills of each member of the team. Following a brainstorming session to determine how we could influence the experience, we turned our focus to identifying a site that maximized our potential for an effective solution. Additional ideation focused on how to best utilize space.

Several decisions had to be made in order to create a compelling form and maximize views into the city backdrop. The chosen site, Market Square in Pittsburgh, offers a wide open space within the city while provided significant city landmarks in view throughout.