The Wellington City Council stand at the Building Nations Symposium set the scene and provided the right attitude to help visitors engage in conversations about Wellington and the Smart City. 

The Building Nations Symposium provided an opportunity for the design team to develop an exhibit and explore how to publically present the VR model of Wellington. The design team worked with the project team to help define the key messages and requirements. Participants needed to learn that Smart City is real and happening in Wellington. The infrastructure challenges the city faces are why the city is using the most current tools available. Smart City will enable Wellington to respond to three major challenges: the growing population, rising sea level, and a moving earth. Wellington is a small city which makes it an ideal testing ground for smart city initiatives — and the city invites them! The stand was constructed out of simple scaffolding enabling a quick and easy setup while achieving additional height. It provided a beacon within the exhibition hall that expressed: experimentation, construction, growth, and technology. Visitors experienced diverse views of a vibrant city across multiple flatscreens, with other screens reflecting live activity around the stand. Within the stand visitors were able to immerse themselves in the virtual city through the NEC Virtual Reality model. Through all of this the stand communicated and made experiential Wellington’s mindset in tackling infrastructure challenges.