Haoyu Chen - Huanghu Temple Fair

Huanghu
Temple Fair

Personal Roles #Design Research #Service Design #Experience Design
Partner @兴国禅寺 @黄湖商会
Link to see the work

Using the public spaces as a medium to reform traditional culture.

HMW

How might we collaborate with stakeholders to create a renewed Huanghu Temple Fair experience on Huanghu Old Street, attract tourists, and enhance local cultural confidence?

the story

Background

Huanghu Old Street, once a vibrant cultural and commercial hub, has faced a decline as younger generations migrate to cities, leaving traditions fading. To rejuvenate the town’s spirit and identity, the Huanghu Temple Fair project reimagines the festival experience by blending the town’s history and local legends, aiming to restore pride and attract visitors.

Result

Through service design and cultural storytelling, the project introduced initiatives like brand design, interactive experiences, and commemorative souvenirs. It united local businesses, designers, and institutions to revive community pride and celebrate the town’s traditions.

Selected Process

Use public spaces to create an engagement

Huanghu Old Street is not just a physical public space but also a vital carrier and spiritual symbol throughout the entire Huanghu Temple Fair experience.
To create more possibilities for the subsequent experiential design, our research process focused on uncovering cultural details and traditional imprints within the old street. We also engaged with the people still living there, learning about the past temple fairs through their stories and guiding them to envision new festival scenarios.

Map The Space: We mapped the distribution of old shops along the entire street and basic information such as structure and size, to evaluate the feasibility of the temple fair when it is implemented in the actual venue.

People's Quotes: We structurally interviewed every old shop owner on the old street to understand the relationship between the old temple fair tradition and people and encourage them to rebuild & reform a new Huanghu temple fair.

Demand Analysis & Journey Map & Service Blueprint

Motivate Stakeholders: Through demand analysis, we found the motivation for each part of the stakeholder to participate in the activity.

Experience The Culture: By designing the journey map, we allowed the people to enjoy the multi-sensory experience of visual, listening, tactile, and taste throughout the process.

Let the community engage: Outlining the visitor's journey, we highlight the collaboration between designers, locals, and volunteers, and make the community spontaneously reform & rebuild the temple fair‘s spiritual meaning.

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