Ellinikon Experience Centre • An Experiential Look Into the Future of Urban Living

Ellinikon is Europe’s largest urban regeneration project, and serves as an incredible look into the future of urban spaces. LAMDA Development, the leading real estate developer in Greece, hired Monks to build an experience center from the ground up that brings its 20-year vision for Ellinikon to life today. We transformed an old airport hangar into an interactive journey that invites visitors to immerse themselves within scenes from the area’s past, present and future—a synergistic experience that blends physical and digital design.

Upon checking into the Experience Center, visitors are given a personalized boarding pass—a reference to the space’s heritage of air travel. Augmented by RFID, the pass connects visitors to personalized experiences as they make their journey throughout the center. The first stop is an interactive maquette, or scale model, that showcases highlights of the development and provides a holistic, data-driven view of the Ellinikon master plan.

The beating heart of the development is the Ellinikon Park, which we paid tribute to through a multisensorial exhibit that invites visitors to become acquainted with the park’s landmarks and its native flora. An interactive map offers insight into local amenities and essential info, while a digitally enhanced botanical library display tells the stories of plants that are integral to the park and Greece at large. Those looking for a more active and scenic view of the park can take a virtual bike ride through the grounds and even enjoy a birds-eye view of its impressive sites. Meanwhile, those in a seafaring mood can explore the future vision of the Riviera on an XR-enhanced virtual yacht ride.

Elinikon will put Greece on the map as an example of human ingenuity and creating a new way of living: the smartest and greenest district of Europe. To help visitors reimagine a better urban future, we designed a series of displays that explore Ellinikon’s various innovations, all housed in a mesmerizing corridor mimicking the night sky. After getting a taste of Ellinikon’s vision, visitors are encouraged to share their own ambitions by wishing on a star and contributing to the shimmering galaxy above.

To help visitors truly envision life within Ellinikon, we staged a luxurious residential living space with story-driven, interactive experiences seamlessly embedded throughout. The RFID-enabled pass allowed us to personalize every interaction, making it even easier for people to imagine their home within the future of urban living. Finally, a panoramic view gives a glimpse into the Ellinikon vision, with sweeping views captured at different times of day and different floor levels.

While flowing from one experience or display to the next, visitors can stop to take a rest in the Free City Space, which connects navigation patterns and play areas into one cohesive wayfinding system. Over the course of their journey, visitors engage with 22 bespoke experiences and 120 minutes of content. From creative direction to production to content development, we blended over a dozen capabilities to bring the Ellinikon master plan to life for visitors from around the world, translating an ambitious plan for urban living into tangible reality.