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Parc Penallta — An Ecology Room
At Parc Penallta, the painting surrounds you—and some details only appear when the lights go out. I worked with the rangers to make a room they could use to explore habitats, pollination and how other animals see the world.
Location: Parc Penallta Education Centre
My role: Concept development, design, mural painting and interactive educational elements
Format: 360-degree immersive mural and supporting interpretation
Theme: Local habitats, species, pollination and animal vision
Find out what happens under ultraviolet light ↓
Painting the habitat around the room
The artwork wraps the education space with a collection of species and habitats, using perspective to make the room feel less like a decorated classroom and more like an environment visitors have stepped into.
Making pollinator vision visible
All of the painted flowers were coated with invisible ultraviolet-reactive paint. Rangers can darken the room and use a UV torch so visiting groups see an extra layer of markings appear across the flowers. The purpose is to give children a practical sense of the kinds of ultraviolet patterning used by flowers to attract pollinators such as bees.
That turns the mural into something the education team can demonstrate, not simply point at.
Art, optics and interpretation
The project also involved optical experimentation. Luximprint supported the work by donating a fly’s-eye lens, adding another way to explore how non-human vision differs from our own. The visual art, the room itself and the interpretation were all treated as parts of the same experience.
When the artwork becomes part of the teaching
The mural was designed around what the rangers actually do with visiting groups, so the visual effect and the interpretation are inseparable. In normal light it changes the atmosphere of the room; during a guided session it becomes something the staff can activate, demonstrate and use to explain pollination and animal vision.
Further project context: Original project story, images and video ↗ · Luximprint project feature ↗
Milton Primary — Murals & Augmented Reality