Hogwarts Hotel
Done for School project: Generate
Fanfiction with Joshua Trees
Photos taken by JT Yean

This was a really fun project! Basically I had so many things on my mind and I had to filter them out, Also, I had a bit of soul searching to get to know myself a bit better. I ended up with Harry Potter as it was something I grew up with ( I have real all the books), my whole family was into it, and we even bought a huge chest just to put all the Harry Potter books in it. I remember even doing some fanart on the school crest and designed my class timetable after the classes they had in Hogwarts which irritated some of my classmates. I was such a nerd. Anyways, I had a great time, everything flowed seamlessly and seem to connect pretty well in this project.

THE FULL REPORT

I have begun to write down a few movies/genres that I was interested in and they were:
-Pretty much of all the zombie movies/games ever made
-Pokemon
-DOOM (First person shooter game)
-Marvel comics
-Old cartoons (Betty Boop, Popeye, Mickey Mouse etc.)
-Futurama
-and the list goes on

It was pretty hard to choose, I wanted to produce something that I was really into and not just plain merchandise. It had to:
-be from an original production
-tell a story/ have a narrative
-useful
-engages with people

These were the criteria I designed around with. I first started out with zombies, I am a fan of all the Resident Evil series as well as George A. Romero’s works. Since I was young I have always wondered if I could survive in such an apocalyptic world invaded by flesh eating-zombies. I started to think an imagine the life of a graphic designer in this world and thought that we would design posters that warned or calmed people like the ever-famous “Keep calm and carry on” poster, or something more of a revolution/propaganda posters where the posters are design to keep the spirits of the surviving people up. Also they will be printed on plastic as that last longer and are not bio-degradable. I thought for a long time but decided not to use it as I didn’t want to do another poster design and hit a dead end.

I then went on to the ever famous Pokemon and I have always dreamed of having one in real life. Was totally obsessed with it when I was a kid. I would collect the trading card and play it on my gameboy, goodtimes. I then remember the part where you can breed pokemon, but was irritated on the fact that a new hybrid pokemon wouldn’t be produced, but a existing one would be. And with the amount of new pokemon adding up to 649, I thought that I could mix different pokemon together and make totally new ones (with features from the co-existing pokemon)! I would design a few of them and make plushies as I have sown one before! As fun as the idea sounds, I don’t see a point of making plushies and so I dropped it.

I then hit another dead end with the game DOOM and started to panic as the deadline of the crit grew closer. I started to discuss my ideas with my friends and on one occasion I muttered something about living in Hogwarts and living in it like a hotel ( it was an idea I made when I was in highschool) and my flatmate said, “Why don’t you use that as your idea?”, My jaw dropped, I have had this idea in years and I have totally forgotten about it. Straight away I went back home and planned out the different rooms guests could live in, which room gets turned in what, what activities guests could go during their stay. I was excited that an old dream of mine was closer of becoming a reality. Of course, I can’t build a whole model of the castle in such amount of time, but I can use an element from the movie to actually showcase the whole castle and that was the Marauder’s Map. Everything seemed to flow seamlessly at this point. I started looking up the original Marauder’s Map and stared to mock it up and realized halfway that its a fan-fiction project and that I could do whatever I wanted. I decided to keep the typographic architecture as a homage to the original design as I felt that it was beautiful. I changed the foldings of the map to give it a different silhouette. As the map was magical, I made a pop up of the castle and made secrets passages that can only be seen when the light shine underneath it, just to make up for it. 

Also I looked up the theme park that they had in Warner Brothers Orlando, just to make sure it hasn’t been done. I found out that people can stay in Hogsmeade ( a little village near Hogwarts where older students are allowed to visit from time to time) but not in Hogwarts which is strange because I know that every fans’ dream is to live and stay in Hogwarts as a student. They can roam around Hogwarts though. So my idea is that Hogwarts gets turned into a hotel and guests get to choose from four suites to live in which are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff which will be all decorated with their own individual interiors. Guests can dine in the Great Hall, take a dip in the Black Lake or even hike in the Forbidden Forest. Also the Prefect’s Bathroom will be turned into a spa, there will be secret passages for guests to find out. And don’t worry if you get lost because there are portraits everywhere which will inform prefects strolling around the hallways who will gladly assist you.

I completed th prototype and wasn’t clear of its purpose, but after the first crit, I have decided to turn it into a ‘Welcome Pack’ that will be given to guests when they check in. That would seem more logical as it is a map and informs guests of the activities that you can do whilst you stay. Also I needed a fitting storyline to go with it : “The Ministry of Magic has decided to unveil itself to all Muggle-folk(non-magical folk) and share its secrets after centuries of secrecy for the betterment of our future, in a world where magic and science co-exist. As Muggles fear the strange and the unfamiliar, we have transformed Hogwarts into a hotel which welcomes all who are curious and interested in experiencing the life of a wizard/witch. 

I am thoroughly happy with the results and hope to tweak the design a bit more.