Public Imagination, Private Ingenuity: The INIT Approach to Urban Art

Thank you! We’re incredibly honored for this double recognition!

We decided to submit Horizon and e/motion to the NY Architectural Design Awards because of the powerful impact these installations have had across North America since their creation. After being showcased in over 15 cities, they’ve consistently transformed public spaces into vibrant places of connection, joy, and discovery.

Beyond their popularity, we truly believe in the strength of their design—both visually and socially. Horizon and e/motion are not only interactive and poetic, they’re also thoughtful interventions in the urban landscape.

It was also a great opportunity to celebrate the incredible collaboration behind these projects—from the artists to our production teams—and to shine a light on the creative excellence we strive to bring to every city we work with.

The defining vision behind Horizon and e/motion is to transform the everyday into the extraordinary—offering accessible, interactive, and sensory experiences that spark connection and curiosity in the heart of our cities.

Since their creation, both works have been touring and lighting up public spaces across North America, bringing art outside traditional venues and animating city centers, parks, and pedestrian zones. They invite everyone—regardless of age or background—to engage, reflect, and play.

Horizon draws inspiration from childhood memories—lying in the grass and watching the sky—and transforms that feeling into a contemplative, immersive environment. With its use of noble materials and digital technology, it acts as a poetic reminder to slow down and reconnect with the rhythms of nature.

e/motion, on the other hand, celebrates fluidity and energy. It’s a vibrant fusion of art, chemistry, and technology that invites people to move, play, and engage—bridging the personal and the collective through a dynamic, luminous experience.

Ultimately, both works reflect our ongoing commitment to placemaking: creating meaningful encounters through art in public space.

While we’re not architects in the traditional sense, our journey is deeply rooted in design, storytelling, and placemaking. INIT is a creative studio that brings together scenographers, engineers, and multidisciplinary makers to design immersive, interactive experiences that reshape how people engage with public space.

We’ve spent over a decade crafting installations that spark joy, connection, and a sense of belonging—because we believe public spaces are essential to collective well-being. For us, it’s not just about building structures, but about creating moments that leave a lasting imprint on people and places.

At INIT, our mission is to imagine and build artistic experiences that activate public space and bring people together. We design interactive installations that invite play, contemplation, and collective discovery—always with a deep respect for the places and communities they inhabit.

But we don’t stop at design. INIT also acts as a creative and strategic partner, offering consulting services and project management tailored to complex public art initiatives. From concept development to on-site execution, we support our collaborators at every step to ensure each project is both meaningful and technically sound.

Our goal is to make art accessible and impactful outside traditional venues. By blending scenography, engineering, and digital creativity, we transform the way people connect—with their environment, with each other, and with their own sense of wonder.

Ultimately, we believe in the power of placemaking to enrich everyday life and foster stronger, more vibrant communities.

Each project came with its own set of design and production challenges—not entirely unexpected, but deeply formative in shaping the final outcome.

With Horizon, one of the biggest technical hurdles was designing a modular roof that could travel easily, maintain its curved shape when assembled, and still lie flat for transport. We initially explored cutting perforated patterns into the polycarbonate to let natural light filter through, but that weakened the structure too much.

Instead, we pivoted to a custom printing technique that preserved the material’s integrity while creating soft gradients of blue. This solution added both visual depth and a beautiful interaction with ambient light—reinforcing the poetic atmosphere we wanted to evoke.

We also faced design challenges with the seating element: it had to feel welcoming and allow for gentle movement, while remaining comfortable and safe for a wide range of users. The final version, made of urban ash wood reclaimed from Montreal trees, brought both a warm aesthetic and a symbolic connection to nature.

For e/motion, the greatest challenge was ensuring a perfectly stable wave effect—regardless of climate. The visual experience depends on the balance between two immiscible liquids inside sealed tubes. But keeping that clarity and smooth flow at both -40°C and +40°C required months of testing. We ran cold trials in freezers, monitored changes in texture, color, and viscosity, and ultimately moved into lab testing to validate durability, UV resistance, and full weatherproofing.

Finding the right fluid combination—and the perfect seal—was critical to ensuring the magic remains intact in any environment. That formula now gives the installation its signature hypnotic quality.

In both cases, technical constraints shaped the creative process. Working through them allowed us to refine every detail and deliver two poetic, durable, and deeply engaging installations ready to travel the world.

Our design process is deeply collaborative, iterative, and grounded in real-world experience.

Each project begins with a strong artistic vision. In the case of Horizon and e/motion, that vision came from Olivier Landreville—a renowned designer whose background in theatre, opera, circus, and dance brings a distinct sensitivity to space, movement, and emotional resonance. His creative direction is rooted in sensory immersion and poetic storytelling. From there, the process becomes a collective endeavor.

We bring together scenographers, designers, engineers, and fabrication specialists to bring that vision to life. From the earliest stages, we’re thinking about how the piece will live in public space: How will it feel? How will people move through it? Will it be intuitive, accessible, and meaningful across diverse environments?

Because our works are designed to tour, considerations like modularity, durability, and ease of transport are built into the process from day one.

Experimentation is key. We prototype extensively, run real-world tests, and push materials to their limits—often using digital tools to simulate behavior under various conditions. Whether it’s the movement of a seat, the play of light through a roof, or the interaction between liquids, we fine-tune every detail to ensure both technical reliability and emotional resonance.

Ultimately, our goal is always to find the right balance—between the poetic and the practical, between an artist’s vision and a public experience. That’s what allows each installation to feel magical, grounded, and truly alive.

Collaboration, Creation and Purpose.

We've been fortunate to receive feedback from both public space partners and visitors—and some of it has been deeply moving, even surprising.

One that stood out was during the world premiere of Horizon in Detroit. As David Cowan from the Downtown Detroit Partnership said, the installation gave people "a chance to tap into their creativity and connect with their surroundings.” Another colleague, Laura Dean, described it beautifully: "Horizon encourages visitors to imagine a place larger than themselves." Hearing that the work could spark that kind of reflection—and align so strongly with the mission of reconnecting people, places, and parks—was incredibly meaningful.

On a different scale, during SHOUT! Festival in Charlotte, e/motion was part of a season that drew nearly 650,000 visitors. The team described it as “a resounding success,” and seeing that kind of response from the public was powerful. People didn’t just pass by—they stayed, they played, they filmed, they came back.

One of the most touching forms of feedback, though, comes from the people themselves. In a short video captured during a presentation of e/motion, a visitor says: “This is beautiful—it’s not just for kids, it’s for everybody.” And another simply says: “This makes me feel good.” It’s those small, spontaneous reactions that remind us why we do this work.

This double recognition means a lot—both personally and collectively. It’s a powerful validation of the collaborative work behind Horizon and e/motion. From the initial vision to the final installation, both projects brought together artists, designers, engineers, producers, and partners across cities. Receiving this kind of international acclaim highlights not only the quality of the design, but also the creative energy and care invested by everyone involved.

It also reinforces our belief that public art has the power to transform everyday spaces and spark meaningful encounters. These installations were designed to travel, to engage, and to resonate—and the fact that they were both recognized tells us we’re on the right path.

Above all, this moment is one of shared pride. It reminds us how far we’ve come, and inspires us to keep pushing boundaries—creating accessible, impactful experiences that connect people through art.

This award reinforces our vision and confirms that there’s a real need—and appetite—for meaningful, interactive experiences in public space. It encourages us to keep pushing forward, to explore new ideas and technologies, and to continue creating works that connect people, places, and emotion. It’s both a recognition and a motivation for what’s next.

One project that’s particularly close to our hearts right now is Weci / Koninut.

Currently in production, it’s a collaboration with Indigenous artists from Quebec that explores the richness of Indigenous cultures through the lens of the six Atikamekw seasons. What inspires us most is that this project goes far beyond aesthetics—it's about storytelling, reconnection with the land, and creating space for voices that are often underrepresented in public art. It invites the public into a poetic, multisensory experience that encourages reflection, respect, and presence.

The project will have its world premiere in Houston in summer 2025.

We believe the future of architecture lies in moving toward something more experiential, relational, and human-scaled. We expect to see a growing emphasis on spaces that foster connection, not just through form, but through emotion, memory, and interaction.

Temporary, modular, and responsive initiatives will play a bigger role in shaping cities, especially as communities look for flexible, inclusive, and low-impact ways to activate public space.

At INIT (and through Creos), we contribute to this evolution by designing artistic interventions that are intentionally subtle, adaptable, and grounded in human experience. Our installations prove, city after city, that people respond to spaces that invite wonder, play, and presence. And that even temporary architecture can leave a lasting impact, just at a softer, more personal scale.

Our approach to sustainability is rooted in adaptability, longevity, and impact. We design installations that are reversible and portable—meant to be reused, relocated, and reimagined without leaving a permanent footprint. It’s a model that extends the life of public spaces by bringing new meaning to existing environments, without the need for heavy infrastructure.

We also make deliberate material choices, such as using reclaimed urban ash in Horizon, or selecting low-impact components that balance durability with environmental responsibility. Finally, we believe that sustainability isn’t only technical—it’s emotional. By creating poetic, sensory experiences that reconnect people with nature, our work helps foster environmental awareness in a more intuitive, lasting way.

If there were no limits, we’d love to create a large-scale journey of interactive installations in an unexpected, open landscape—revealing its hidden potential through art. Beyond offering a powerful public experience, the project would aim to raise awareness among landowners about the value of making underused spaces available for community and cultural activation.