Holovis and Panasonic brought headset-free shared immersion to Gunwharf Quays

Gunwharf Quays wanted an attraction that gives people a memorable reason to visit the destination together, beyond shopping — with the flexibility of temporary or semi-permanent deployment.

Theme-park-grade immersive theatre in a shopping destination: a dome where projection, sound and live performers wrap the family at once — shared, not headset-bound.

A geodesic ApolloDome with six Panasonic PT-RZ24K 20,000-lumen WUXGA laser projectors covering the curved interior; seasonal productions from festive shows to Halloween themes mix projection with live performers and narrative sound design.

No visitor figures are given; the piece positions the dome as a repeat-visit driver that repositions retail, with the experience extending into dwell time across the destination.

At Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, the experience design firm Holovis, working with landlord Landsec, built a large-scale geodesic projection dome — the kind of immersive storytelling usually kept inside theme parks or cultural venues — as a family attraction for a shopping destination. Audio Media & Vision's trade report describes how the ApolloDomes installation surrounds visitors with light, sound and story without a single headset or personal screen.

Six Panasonic PT-RZ24K 20,000-lumen WUXGA 3-Chip DLP laser projectors spread visuals across the curved interior, while the shows are not passive displays: projection is combined with live performers, narrative storytelling and sound design, closer to immersive theatre than digital signage. The dome hosted a series of seasonal experiences, from festive productions to Halloween-themed shows, and the structure is built to be flexible enough for temporary or semi-permanent deployment.

The stated intent goes beyond the dome: Holovis' Matt Dobbs says clients are seeing 'a real appetite for experiences' and that it is 'about repositioning retail and creating reasons for people to come back out and spend time in these spaces', while head of marketing Alex Kunawicz adds that 'it's not about the technology, it's about the experience.' Families and groups encounter the same story together, reacting in real time as one collective moment.

Immersive technology had drifted toward individual headsets and one-user screens, which is the opposite of what a destination needs — the design deliberately makes the experience collective.

A dome can sit in a public destination yet deliver the envelopment of a permanent theme-park attraction, because the geodesic structure deploys temporarily.

Seasonal theming (festive, Halloween) gives the same structure a calendar of reasons to return rather than a one-off visit.

For Landsec the dome is a footfall engine: the attraction, not the shops, is the reason to come, and the visit extends into the wider destination.

Shared beats personal for destinations: one big room everyone experiences together creates the group memory that brings families back.

The report, published 9 October 2026, records the dome as delivered and running seasonal experiences at Gunwharf Quays; no attendance figures or dates for future deployments are given, only the positioning of the project as a template for physical destinations seeking experiential draws.