PROJECT CASE STUDY
Haunted House
Design.
Design and development of a modular haunted house for large-scale public activation.
A moment in the haunted house where a patron could choose multiple directions.
OVERVIEW
High quality, with ability to travel.
Project: Modular Haunted House Design
Role: Experience Design / Engineering / VR Previs
Client: Events After Dark
Skills: Spatial design, Engineering, VR previs
This project focuses on the design and development of a modular haunted house for large-scale public activation.
The brief required a structure that was both durable and flexible. It needed to withstand continuous guest throughput while remaining modular enough to be disassembled, transported, and reassembled across multiple locations. The experience itself also needed to accommodate hidden performers, multiple scare zones, and a cohesive theme that tied the entire attraction together.
Rather than relying on traditional 2D layouts, the design process was developed in virtual reality. The entire haunted house was built as a navigable VR experience, allowing stakeholders to walk through the attraction before construction began. This included lighting, soundscapes, performer positions, and animatronic placements.
Working in VR made it possible to test pacing, refine guest flow, and iterate on scare timing in real time. Adjustments that would traditionally require physical rebuilds could instead be resolved instantly within the virtual environment, significantly reducing both risk and production cost.
The final outcome was a design that could be clearly understood and approved by all stakeholders from the outset. It ensured alignment between creative vision and technical execution, while also generating early excitement around the experience.
This approach has since become a core part of my workflow for Luna Park’s Halloween installations, using VR previsualisation to ensure that what is experienced during design is faithfully delivered in the final built attraction.
The Spider Section
Below are some images showing elements from the design process of a section of the haunted house where a patron would encounter smaller spiders that would be progressively larger before encountering the “show spider”.
As the project never entered production, I have been kindly granted the opportunity to show the following, with the rest of the haunted house saved for potential future productions.
The designs shown below are all pre-vis, and should not be taken as an indication of how the exact final house would appear, but how items could be laid out.
