Interior Design Themed Entertainment Design
Savannah Chora
Interactive Girl Scout Experience
2020 Walt Disney Imagineering Imaginations Finalist
Note: This project was conceived by the Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah Chora and created for the 2020 Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition. This project is the sole property of Walt Disney Imagineering and all rights to use these ideas are exclusive to Walt Disney Imagineering. The competition is a way for students and recent graduates to showcase their talents and for Walt Disney Imagineering to identify new talent.
​
Roles:
Fly-Through by Kristen Nicolais
Team Lead / Film Director
Kristen Nicolais
Designer / 3D Modeler
Challenge: Create an iconic installation on your campus or city that serves as an inspiration, honors the past, and is a vision of the future. It can be architectural, ornamental, static, active, whatever your team feels is the best way to represent your unique chosen location. It can be intimate or grandiose, but it should always be appropriate for the location selected. In telling the very unique story of your chosen spot, it should respect and integrate local traditions and geography. Your icon should be a place to gather and celebrate, as well as reflect and educate the community. A concept that will go down in history as symbolic of your campus or city.
Illustrator / Motion Media Designer
Solution: In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. The organization was established with the ideal that troops would work together to learn new skills and use those skills to give back to the community, ideals that are integral to Savannah's "chora" or sense of place.
Located in one of Savannah's original 6 squares (green spaces designed for public gathering) Savannah Chora is an experience hosted by the Girl Scouts that encourages all types of people to embrace the Girl Scout values by becoming risk-takers, innovators, go-getters, and leaders.
Master Plan by Kristen Nicolais, Badge Design by Maria Primera-Darwich
In the center for the square, stands the Tree for the Future. The legend of the tree is that after Juliette Gordon Lowe's death, the Girl Scouts of
Savannah wanted to do something to commemorate her legacy, so they planted a tree in Oglethorpe Square near her home. But despite their best
efforts the tree would not grow.
​
After searching through Daisy's journals and notes, one young girl stumbled upon something that sparked an idea "We are stronger together." The Girl Scouts realized that what they had been missing to make the tree grow was to include the community. So they started to plan activities around the tree to get more people involved. And thanks to the participation of locals and visitors, the tree grew into the lushest tree that anyone had ever seen.
Legend of the Tree, directed and edited by Maria Primera-Darwich
This tree is the icon for Savannah Chora. It is here that you will find the first of the four areas, the Risk-Takers Area. The tree issues Challenges of Growth, to daring guests who activate the knot on the trunk and retrieve one of the acorn baskets. Guests are encouraged to take risks through a range of challenges that include everything from trying one of the activities at the square, taking an eco-pledge, or participating in a community service activity.
Challenges of Growth by Haosong Chen
The Tree for the Future also hosts the stage. Here local performers hold concerts while viewers gather around the campfire. There are also special storytelling events where guests who are brave enough can tell the crowd a story of their own, while children can assist by creating shadow puppets.
Performance Area by Haosong Chen
Savannah Chora also promotes creativity in the Innovator's Corner. Here visitors can make things such as wind chimes, dreamcatchers, and water filters from materials available in the craft hut. Special trees are designated for guests to leave their mark on Savannah Chora by hanging up their wind chimes or dreamcatchers to share with others.
Innovator's Corner by Haosong Chen
The Go-Getter Activities encourage guests to get active. Savannah Chora offers unique bike tours, guided by the Girl Scouts which give you a look at Savannah through Daisy's eyes. The bikes come in all different sizes so that every member of the family can participate and the bike share program allows guests to use the bikes to explore Savannah on their own.
Bike Tours by Maria Primera-Darwich and Haosong Chen
Go-Getters will also have fun dangling from the trees with the aerial silks and cooling off in the splash pad area with interactive fountain.
Silks Area Illustration by Kristen Nicolais and Motion Media by Haosong Chen
Splash Zone by Haosong Chen
The Communication Corner, helps people to become leaders, by getting them involved in different discussions. These discussions, facilitated by Girl Scouts and create a warm and friendly environment for people to share their views and opinions on a whole range of topics from local issues to popular books and movies. The Whispering Trees allow guests to listen and talk with other people on the opposite end of the square from them.
Communication Tent by Kristen Nicolais, Whispering Tree by Maria Primera-Darwich
In order for this experience to work properly, Girl Scout troops sign up with their local council to volunteer on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school or on weekends. This helps the Girl Scouts earn badges and improve in all four areas (leadership, risk-taking, go-getting, and innovating) while helping guests grow in these areas as well.
​
They would also pair with other local organizations to help maintain the square and to keep activities and topics fresh and relevant.
Girl Scout Volunteers by Haosong Chen
At the end of the guest's visit to Savannah Chora, they are able to retrieve a physical badge from the back of the tree and download a digital badge to show-off their accomplishment. These badges motivate guests to come back to participate in special events to get unique badge and to try all the activities. They are also tradable and are great leave behinds in the new Girl Scout geo-caches placed around Savannah.
Badges and Caches by Haosong Chen
Digital Badges by Haosong Chen
Lastly, our group would like to thank the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia for all of their help in creating the video and research.
