Entrance as a Non-Peripheral Space in a Theme Park Design – Focusing on Lotte World Adventure in Seoul, Korea

OVERVIEW

A theme park is an embodiment of the human desire for entertainment. As location-based entertainment, theme parks exert a time-tested attraction, remaining the leaders of the industry that is, by nature, driven to constantly innovate. Today, kinaesthetic and haptic technologies enable immersive experience through rides. However, in this multisensory environment, visitors perceive a theme park primarily in visual terms. Thus, design is a crucial feature in forging its identity and a theme park is a fertile ground for applying design to objects, from the minute to the grand. Any gate in a commercial area must be distinctive enough in appearance to beckon passers-by. The entrance of a theme park is meant to be even more impactful to the point of constituting a demarcation between reality and fantasy. Analysing the entrance design of Lotte World Adventure, a top-tier Korean theme park, provides insight into its aesthetics and cultural references.

Keywords:

• Korean theme park
• entrance design
• selection of themes
• entertainment design

Acknowledgements

I express my gratitude for my academic supervisor Professor Hyunshin Jo, a professor in the Department of Design Studies at the Graduate School of Techno Design, at Kookmin University who has recently published a book, ‘Cultural History of Korean Design. Her intellectual quest and insightful guidance profoundly helped in writing this PhD report and she has instilled a conviction in me that Korean design is worth exploring and getting it well known around the world.

Additional information

Biography

Sharon Yoon is a PhD candidate in Design Studies in Graduate School of Techno Design, Kookmin University, Seoul. She majored in art history at Sorbonne University, Paris and has also worked as a visiting scholar in Duke University, Durham. Her research for “Designs of Korean Department Store in the 1980s” won academic excellence awards in Korean Society of Basic Design and Art Conference in 2017.