HEARTS

The Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics were coming, and Westfield needed four Auckland centres transformed into local Fan Zones. By the time the brief reached us, the runway was almost gone: New Zealand's Olympic and Paralympic partnerships carried their own distinct requirements, there was no design or brand framework in place, and once the direction was finally locked, we had under a week to design all of it. Four centres, four footprints, some outdoors, three sets of brand guidelines to satisfy — Olympics, Paralympics and Westfield — and no room to get it wrong.

So we built the story from scratch, fast. A fan zone that got people off the bench: "What's your event?" invited shoppers to spin the wheel, find their sport and actually try it, a balance-off for gymnastics, star jumps for trampoline, hold-your-breath for swimming. Cardboard athletes turned every visitor into a medallist for the photo. And inclusivity wasn't bolted on — Para events sat right alongside the rest, from wheelchair rugby to goalball, "played in silence, so stop and listen." Everyone had an event.

Each set pulled together interactive challenges, sport facts, seating and space to host visiting Olympians, wrapped in centre-wide elevations that made the whole place feel part of the Games. And because there was no time to be everywhere at once, we designed it to be built and rolled out by another supplier across all four sites. When the thinking is tight enough, it travels — even under this kind of pressure.