A Monster Installation

Client:  Echo Entertainment Group
Agency:  Armature Design Support
Brief:  Produce and install a 14-metre skeletal dragon frame for new celebrity chef restaurant

nguyenWhen celebrity chef Luke Nguyen (pictured left) teamed up with casino entertainment group, Echo Entertainment Group, to open a new Fat Noodle restaurant at the Treasury Casino and Hotel in Brisbane — they wanted ‘wow factor’.  And Big Kahuna Imagineering helped to deliver it.

Working closely with Trent Baker from Armature Design Support (ADS), BKI was engaged to develop, supply and fabricate a skeletal frame of a dragon to adorn the entrance and corridor of the new Fat Noodle.  And not just any dragon — a 14-metre monster snaking its way through the corridors.

Fat-Noodle-Brisbane-Dragon-Installation-BKI-7To kick off the project, we produced a 1:10 scale clay maquette of the dragon in the context of surrounding architecture, based on the sketches and plans provided.  We first created a mesh rendition but then opted to reproduce the maquette from a vacuum-formed clear acrylic pattern to better define the scope of works’ relative form as regarded from above (structural side) and below (sculptural side).

From the maquette, we constructed a modular, steel frame. The spine of the dragon was segmented into six sections and, once in place, the armature was clad in brass and stainless steel scales fabricated by ADS.

With the sections ready to fly and the Big Kahuna team fresh out of elevated work platform training courses, we jetted off to Brisbane — bags packed with nuts, washers, LED modules and other assorted necessities for installing the beast.

In such an organic form, the 390-kg dragon was quite a challenge to hang in the heritage building — what with Buildcorp project personnel and suits crawling all over it!! But once it was up and the lights went on, the restaurant had its “wow factor”.

“With time pressure and technical design challenges, it was a relief to have Will, Steve and the BKI team on board. From the beginning, Will had an instant understanding of the job brief and imagined an ingenious system for lamp replacement… an artwork in its’ own right. The quality of craftsmanship, made possible by an intimate understanding of materials and processes, is evident in the final result. A thoroughly satisfied client.” — Trent Baker, Director of Armature Design Support

Fat Noodle Brisbane opened in December 2012 and the fit out is getting rave reviews on the blogosphere!

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Making of Fat Noodle Brisbane Dragon BKI

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dragon scale prototype

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A High-Flying Big Kahuna Project for Ogilvy Impact

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Client: FMCG Client
Agency: Ogilvy Impact
Brief: Create a team-building game around the art of paper planes

Big Kahuna Imagineering was recently brought in to help design a team-building game involving “aerogami” — the art of paper-plane making.

Now, with a Managing Director equipped with a Bachelor Degree in Aviation, this job was right up our alley!

The interactive game was to be part of a product knowledge training program for Ogilvy Impact’s leading FMCG client.

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Aerogami Trolley Concept Illustration

Big Kahuna designed two paper planes (one easy, one more advanced) and provided a box kit complete with instruction guides and the gear players would need to customise their own flying design (different weights of paper plus various accoutrements like tape, staplers, paper clips, and even little propellers).

As the kits had to be transported by plane to the Sunshine State, we used a bit of Big Kahuna ingenuity to customise an inflight service trolley to serve dual purposes — A) neatly store the aerogami boxes and B) serve as a transportation box.

To accompany the kits, Big Kahuna also customised a fold-out scoreboard branded with vinyl stickers for the overall competition.

Designed to communicate the company’s renewed focus on the product and bringing the consumer product experience to the center of everything they do, Ogilvy Impact worked with their client to develop an interactive, team based experience  that aligned with the core steps in their product journey.  The aerogami challenge was just one of several that the 150 participants competed in during the 3-hour product knowledge training program.

At the end of the overall experience, 95 percent of participants not only found the experience enjoyable and valuable but also said they felt confident in the company’s new marketing strategy.

Another high-flying project to soar out of the Big Kahuna workshop!

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Aussie-Inspired Trophies for FMX Legends

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Last month Sydney played host to the Grande Finale of the Red Bull X-Fighters — one of the world’s biggest and most respected freestyle motocross tours — for the second time and Big Kahuna Imagineering was proud to be there again to equip the winners with some Aussie-inspired trophies.

Kastner and Partners returned to Big Kahuna to create trophies in the shape of Akubra hats adorned with an X-Fighters badge and motorbike chain bands for the top three winners of the World Final.  We wanted a metal aesthetic without the cold, rigidness to allow the winners to actually wear their trophies.   So we used authentic Akubras and motorbike chains but with a few Big Kahuna tricks of the trade and achieved a fantastic result.

The dramatic showdown was one of the closest finishes in the 12-year history of the event with Levi Sherwood squeaking past Thomas Pagès and last year’s big winner Josh Sheehan to claim his first Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour title.

After the dust settled, these FMX legends stood tall over Cockatoo Island wearing their Akubra trophies with pride.

2012 Big Kahuna Imagineering Scholarship Recipient — Elizabeth Gadsby

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As a passionate patron of the arts, Big Kahuna Imagineering sponsored a National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) scholarship for a Design student displaying considerable novelty in their material science.

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Elizabeth among the designers and directors in Perth at the begining of the year for 2012 Perth Festival — the oldest annual international multi-arts festival in the southern hemisphere.

This year’s recipient, Elizabeth Gadsby, came highly recommended by Michael Scott-Mitchell, Head of Design and Director of Undergraduate Studies at NIDA as well as award-winning production designer.

Entering her second year at NIDA when the scholarship was awarded last March, Elizabeth has had a challenging and fulfilling year designing the opera Die tote Stadt and working with the Director Lucas Jervies shooting a music video for a Melbourne-based triple j Unearthed artist Taxidermy Hall.  She also worked as co-production designer on a short film called Jack Off directed by Max Doyle.

Now preparing for her final project for the year, Elizabeth is working with postgraduate director Harriet Gilles on an edited version of Goethe’s Faust which focuses on ‘The Gretchen tragedy’.

During the design process Harriet and Elizabeth delved into the play’s symbolism and logistically worked through different materials that could exist as a sculptural element to the set whilst responding to the performance. Originally they discussed salt blocks then wax blocks and now have settled on fresh cabbage as the material of choice.  Currently in pre-production, rehearsals for Faust start early next month and the performances will be held late November/ early December.

The Big Kahuna Imagineering Scholarship has allowed Elizabeth to continue studying at NIDA which she says “has been such a rewarding opportunity.”

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Stage Design for Act 1 of Die tote Stadt produced by NIDA
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Stage Design for Act 3 of Die tote Stadt produced by NIDA

“NIDA is Australiaʼs pre-eminent institute for dramatic education and it is fundamental that the most talented students have the opportunity to study here,” said Elizabeth Nicoll, Head of Development at NIDA. “The support of donors for the NIDA Scholarships and Bursaries program is invaluable and greatly appreciated. It helps us ensure that no student is precluded from having the opportunity to make the most of their intensive NIDA training and fulfill their creative journey”.

In regard to Elizabeth’s next step, she says she’s really looking forward to using the skills she’s developing at NIDA in the theatre and film industry and wider community upon graduation.  And she certainly has an exciting final year ahead, with two NIDA productions and further development of animated drawings for her secondment on the commissioned work Freeze Frame, directed by Debbie Allen and designed by Michael Scott-Mitchell for Brisbane Festival 2013. She is currently developing a puppet show with the Little Baroque Co. as part of the London Handel Festival to be shown in April 2013.

Stay tuned — we see great things in Elizabeth’s future!

Check out the music video for a Melbourne-based triple j Unearthed artist Taxidermy Hall that Elizabeth worked on with Director Lucas Jervies…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBTM4Z1EIsk]