Repainting of Epcot Central Plaza?

MarkTwain

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
hpyhnt 1000 said:
The idea that the building are too large and unapproachable - they only made that worse when they blackened out/covered the windows starting in the 90s. The easiest way to make them more approachable is to uncover the windows and remove all the overgrown foliage.

Yes, the buildings are large and have a lot of exposed concrete, but they also have a ton of windows. Find a way to make the windows windows again instead of treating them like walls.
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True. The designs of Innoventions and MouseGear are largely at fault here for putting solid walls up against the interior windows, when Communicore/Centorium took more care in ensuring transparency and vsibility from the plaza. And that's largely the problem with this whole painting project in general, or by extension even with Epcot as a whole: trying to solve a big problem with some paint when in reality a much deeper solution is needed.

I actually think there's a lot that can be read from this repainting project. What's interesting to me is that in many contexts, this paint scheme would be considered very interesting and appropriate - like I said my architecture office works with these kind of paint schemes quite often (we're a liberal bunch of designers though). I showed the pictures to two friends in my office (over lunch break, take it easy ;)) and at first they were generally positive. When I said it was the centerpiece of a land called "Future World" and should ideally look futuristic, their responses changed more to an "...Ewww." And I think that speaks volumes. A color scheme like this might be great for a trendy outdoor mall or a children's museum, but for a land themed to showcasing the future this doesn't really work.

It's as if the Imagineers forgot what park they were designing for, or as if they assigned the color scheme assignment to a person with general color sense but who didn't have a background in what Innoventions Plaza was actually about. Or, more likely, as if Imagineering as a whole didn't know what the plaza should be about, and looked to the major presences of MouseGear and Innoventions for an answer, and decided maybe the area *is* a shopping mall or children's museum. In any case, like most Epcot projects, the repainting is oblivious to any larger, overarching design scheme for Epcot, assuming one exists anymore at all.
 
DisneyGentleman

DisneyGentleman

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
They filmed AFV for only one night and the stage is already gone... also the new paint job extends past where the cameras would have been able to see now. They would never go to all the trouble of repainting all of this just for one night of filming when they could just rig up some special lighting.
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True...
 
dstrawn9889

dstrawn9889

Well-Known Member
to be honest when i was there last weekend through monday, it did not even catch my attention, and i was looking for this to photograph before my children arrived. maybe a trick of the shutters on the cameras taking the pictures, but there was not enough difference there amongst the shadows for it to stand out and say 'this is not right'.
 
Nick Pappagiorgio

Nick Pappagiorgio

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
The only part that looks good are the grey and blues that are closest to World Showcase, as seen on the left of the first two photos.
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I agree. I like it right up until where the first strip of brown is.
 

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Virtual Toad

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member
Oh dear Lord no.

The whole point of themed design is to make the guest feel welcomed and relaxed. Visual clutter just adds to anxiety and confusion, and there was enough of that (clutter) in the central plaza already.

Surely this has to be a color test. Otherwise those responsible should really read up on their John Hench 101.
 
Clamman73

Clamman73

Well-Known Member
Starting to figure out what they might have been thinking...If they painted it basically the same, it would just look the same. If they painted it just a few of the greys/blues all the way around for example, it would turn out looking monotonous (and a little stark imho) even though the colors would look good. So the next choice is a color palette that is supposed to go with each other, but that color palette is broken up into different widths of colors to reduce the monotony. *shrugs*
 
note2001

note2001

Well-Known Member
MarkTwain said:
It's as if the Imagineers forgot what park they were designing for, or as if they assigned the color scheme assignment to a person with general color sense but who didn't have a background in what Innoventions Plaza was actually about. Or, more likely, as if Imagineering as a whole didn't know what the plaza should be about, and looked to the major presences of MouseGear and Innoventions for an answer, and decided maybe the area *is* a shopping mall or children's museum. In any case, like most Epcot projects, the repainting is oblivious to any larger, overarching design scheme for Epcot, assuming one exists anymore at all.
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I get the sense that we have reasonably new imagineers/designers making their mark all over Disney with minimal guidance from experienced imagineers. The approval process it seems no longer requires a "Proof of Concept" before implementing the design.

Test Track, refurbishments on VWL and OKW, MK Hub makeover... the list is much larger than this, but point is the experienced imagineers are all off on the "big" projects world-wide leaving the ones who need to learn from them home alone.
 
P

ptaylor

Premium Member
note2001 said:
I get the sense that we have reasonably new imagineers/designers making their mark all over Disney with minimal guidance from experienced imagineers. The approval process it seems no longer requires a "Proof of Concept" before implementing the design.

Test Track, refurbishments on VWL and OKW, MK Hub makeover... the list is much larger than this, but point is the experienced imagineers are all off on the "big" projects world-wide leaving the ones who need to learn from them home alone.
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You may notice that many of the recent WDW projects handled by FL-WDI have not been that great. Space Mountain audio, Country Bears, Test Track 2, Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow etc. There is something in common with them all. I sometimes think they are too busy being pals with "fans" on Twitter. No question though, there is a lack of experienced Imagineers working on FL projects. Other than Joe at DAK, the rest of them are young, inexperienced, and do not have impressive portfolios of projects - and it shows. TDO gets a lot of blame around here, but sometimes you need to look at what the creatives do with the money given to them.
 
roj2323

roj2323

Well-Known Member
whom ever signed off on this needs to be fired immediately. All this does is cheapen the park and make it less appealing than it currently is. What are they going to do next gold plate spaceship earth?
 
roj2323

roj2323

Well-Known Member
Can someone with photoshop skills retouch these photos with a color scheme that actually makes future world look "futuristic"? I'm thinking the the blue that's similar to fountain view, the darkish gray risers and light grey ascents on large columns and over entryways would look appropriate.
 
DisneyGentleman

DisneyGentleman

Well-Known Member
Clamman73 said:
Starting to figure out what they might have been thinking...If they painted it basically the same, it would just look the same. If they painted it just a few of the greys/blues all the way around for example, it would turn out looking monotonous (and a little stark imho) even though the colors would look good. So the next choice is a color palette that is supposed to go with each other, but that color palette is broken up into different widths of colors to reduce the monotony. *shrugs*
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I think the color scheme is something like high tech vomit - to make the drinkers feel right at home.
 

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