World of Volvo: Every Body
World of Volvo: Every Body
World of Volvo, located in central Gothenburg's new event district, is a one-of-a-kind experience centre with a unique Scandinavian-style architecture covering 22,000 m2. It aims to be a premier destination and meeting place, as well as a space for a new Volvo exhibition.
“Every Body” is an interactive installation which serves as an introductory experience for the Volvo exhibition about the future of mobility.
Overview
Volvo Cars commissioned us to design an introductory experience for the permanent World of Volvo exhibition. The exhibition emphasizes the role of the individual in the mobility transformation, and starts with the theme: "We are all different. Our bodies are too." This theme highlights Volvo’s commitment to creating solutions that adapt to the unique needs of everybody.
The brief called for a multi-user interactive experience which would center around every individual visitor, use visuality of innovative materials and technologies Volvo envisions for the future of mobility, and be as easy to use as possible.
Simplicity of movement
To ensure a seamless and accessible experience, we aimed to minimize the role of traditional interfaces and eliminate the need for onboarding. Instead, we utilized vision-based sensors to track visitors’ movements, enabling interaction through full-body motion capture.
For a technological solution we opted for a hyper-realistic game engine Unreal Engine 5 and computer vision-based motion tracking. The footprint of the installation was optimised for maximum visual impact and usage by larger groups.
Unique set of characters with infinite variations
To connect visitors with the exhibition’s theme, we created an intuitive virtual "mirror" that transforms participants into abstract, colorful characters representing diverse shapes, sizes, and material properties.
We designed 8 unique character types which can have an infinite number of individual variations. The characters embody visual themes inspired by native minerals, synthetics, metals, glass, liquids, textiles, electricity, and code/tech. All characters come with their own visual quirks, behaviors and physics.
These distinctive lifeforms are used as a metaphor throughout the exhibit to convey how Volvo utilizes sensors, user data and material science to design mobility solutions that adapt to the unique needs of every individual.
Interaction
“Every Body” is made out of two LED screens, totaling 30 sqm, and allows up to 10 people to interact with it through their proximity and movement.
The installation welcomes the visitors in its idle state which features hundreds of objects/particles floating in the air. When the visitors approaches the interaction area, some of the particles stick to the visitor. The character types are assigned randomly, and the individual variations are generated in real-time allowing for infinite outcomes. Effectively, each character is completely unique.
Any type of movement performed within the boundaries of the area is tracked. Everyone is invited to experiment and mess with the visualization as much as possible. When visitors’ silhouettes overlap or they exit the area, the characters fall apart.
In perpetual motion
The exhibition was visited by 3,000 people on the first day, and is on track for 300,000 visitors in the first year. Due to its scale and visuality, “Every Body” installation was featured prominently in the media and WoV promotional materials. It has proven to be a popular attraction both for children and adults with hundreds of thousands of characters generated already.
Made for everybody
The "Every Body" installation at World of Volvo encapsulates the exhibition's mission of celebrating individuality in the future of mobility. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies and experiential storytelling, it offers an intuitive and visually stunning experience that highlights Volvo’s commitment to inclusivity and innovation. By blending art, technology, and design, the installation embodies Volvo’s vision of a future where mobility is tailored to the needs of all. After all every body—and every journey—is different.
