Persepolis Reimagined
& The Palace Experience
J. Paul Getty Trust - Getty Villa
WebGL & Immersive 360 Animation
September ‘21 to May ‘22 - 9 month duration
Media.Monks | Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Buenos Aires
Awards
Webby Winner & People’s Voice Winner: Architecture,
Art & Design Websites and Mobile Sites
FWA Site of the Year
Awwwards Developer Site of the Year
Awwwards & FWA Site of the Month combo - June ‘22
FWA and Awwwards Site of the Day - June 1 ‘22
Role Lead Integrated Producer
Global production—Organized art historical content workshops across teams, managed client communications and project expectations across scope, timeline alongside account and production partners.
Partnered closely with Immersive Web team and EP, Brian Jarmon, on Persepolis The Palace Experience immersive 360 film.
As part of a sweeping Getty Villa exhibition, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, Media.Monks partnered with Getty to create both local and global experiences, an immersive WebGL experience and an immersive 360° film.
These experiences, transport visitors to Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, and feature objects from the exhibition, highlighting their purpose in the historical society.
Persepolis Reimagined & The Palace Experience case study
Using webGL technology, we created an immersive guide through a virtual reconstruction of the ancient Persian citadel, Persepolis, revived from ruins and restored to imperial power, bringing the rich heritage of ancient Iran to a worldwide audience.
This interactive, immersive WebGL site represents intense collaboration between technology, art, and history, presented from a relatable human perspective. Our live testament to past glory, is as accurate to past paths through Persepolis as can be. Media.Monks team achieved the goal to recreate an ancient citadel at the height of its splendor, as well as build emotional investment in history, at a globally accessible scale. In addition, an underlying hope was for the Iranian community–diaspora–the opportunity to walk in the steps of their ancestors and see the Persian Empire’s achievements up close.
Please experience Persepolis yourself, Persepolis.getty.edu.
3D Model
We used a skeleton model created by archeologists who went to Persepolis and built the structure in 3D files. By partnering with Getty Curators and UCLA Professor of Ancient Iran, Mohammad Ali, we modeled the most accurate to date recreation of Persepolis with multiple workshops discussing the designs in architecture, textures/materials, foliage in-and-beyond the palace and physical environment in what would have been 400 - 500 BC.
Persepolis Reimagined
WebGL
bringing history to
contemporary day.
360° Film | VFX + Unreal Engine
Persepolis The Palace Experience
To show our immersive 360° film, we opened a special viewing room within the Getty Villa, outfitted with a wrap-around 4K LED display that can surround groups of up to 20 visitors at a time. This experience is part of the museum exhibit, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World. And in this context, we sought to expand and enhance the gallery space, offering visitors another way to discover and appreciate the past.
Beyond archaeological items and historical descriptions, we aimed to give museum-goers the chance to imaginatively travel to ancient Persia and walk down the virtual halls of Persepolis. This way, not only could they see the exhibition contents and art objects in their original context, but also get a feel for the scale and majesty of the Persian capital. Our goal in crafting this journey was to get people enthusiastic about the art and culture of the Persian Empire by experiencing a memorable and sharable in-person digital experience and further position Getty as an innovative educational center.
This immersive 360 film, to the left in a 16:9 format, could be experienced during the Getty Villa exhibition, Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, from April to August 2022.