We are planning on building a Origami Palace out of colored paper. It is going to around 1' * 1' * 1' in dimension. The origami palace would use a large number of origami cranes and balloons to highlight a colorful visual experience. Therefore the senses we are working with is vision.

Origami comes from Japanese Culture. In Japan, people use Origami to express their good wishes to their family and friends, no matter living or dead. 

We use strings to hang the origami and this idea comes from sky lantern. In China, people light up sky lanterns and releases them to the sky during  Mid-autumn festival to express good wishes to their families and friends.  We wish we could produce a similar effect in the environment and let people feel the sense of blessing.(empathy)

This a closed environment. People go into the environment one by one. He/she will be surrounded by hundreds of Origami and blocked from anything   else. Many people's lives are very busy and "noisy"  these days. Thus, we want those who go into this environment "take a break from their lives" and feel the calmness it brings.

This environment is also interactive. Outside the tent, there is a pile of Origami paper. People are encouraged to make their own Origami and hang them in the environment. They can also write their "good wishes" to their families, friends or strangers in the paper. In this way, the space will be filled with "blessing" from different people(not just the creators).

In the review session, we received comments like "The idea empathy is kind of literal due to the limit of culture". We admit that it is kind of limited since Origami has the special meaning of blessing in Asian cultures and there are people who don't know it. However, we make this environment because we want to bring the things in our culture to the class and let people feel the empathy in this specific context. A good solution may be having some explaining. For example, we can play some audio explaining the special meaning of Origami to people when they walk through the environment. 

How are we going to improve it?

 1. Adding some audio explaining the meaning of Origami.

2. Make the space higher.(Since it is now a little bit low and hard for tall people to get in.)

3. In the review session, someone says that it is kind like a "Disney ride experience".(People sit in a car and drives through a beautiful environment.) We think that it is a good idea!