Wild Imaginarium is the new entrance for Great Ormond Street Hospital, a groundbreaking artistic and architectural intervention that combines human creativity in the built environment with artificial intelligence.
Wild Imaginarium
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Co-created with students aged 3 to 16 from Great Ormond Street Hospital School, Wild Imaginarium will serve as the primary entrance for one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals during a major construction period over the next few years. Designed to showcase life 'bursting' out the building, the project integrates interactive elements with public space design and architectural form.
HAQUE TAN were tasked to create an engaging entrance experience that could serve as a bold wayfinding and visual marker for visitors and patients.
Extending from inside the building foyer, out across its facade and pavement, and further into the street, Wild Imaginarium features a dynamic fusion of tangible real plants with earthly needs, and vibrant digital plants coming to life across the facade of the building. Each one was born from the imaginations of the young participants, who used generative artificial intelligence to visualise their creations.
Never the same on two days running, Wild Imaginarium’s plants, both physical and digital, respond to changing seasons and weather in real time, encouraging slow viewing and reflection.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Entrance
“It’s really important for us at the hospital school to give children control over their learning experiences and working on the co-creation of Wild Imaginarium with GOSH Arts and HAQUE TAN did exactly that.
Pupils responded with excitement and curiosity and were captivated by the results of their creative work. We feel a great sense of pride in seeing the children's ideas at the centre of such a large-scale and ambitious work.
We are grateful to GOSH Arts for the truly collaborative experience and to Ling and Usman for their sensitive and child-led approach.”
- Danielle Valdar
Deputy Headteacher, The Children’s Hospital School
Wild Imaginarium's physical plants, digital plants and interactive plants
We worked with GOSH Arts, as well as Hospital School teachers and students, for almost two years, delving into the use of generative AI as a tool for children – of all ages, abilities and medical needs – to bring their imaginations to life.
With a critical approach to technology, we explored AI's potential to support the complex diversity of different people’s voices and perspectives, resulting in a collective effort that also reflected the unique contributions of each participant.
As such, Wild Imaginarium is a testament to the symbiotic relationships between physical and digital, human and artificial, tangible and interactive.
Wild Imaginarium interactive plants and 'parklet' with digital displays and reflective material applied to facade glazing
