‘Fernhill Park Experience’ is an interactive, educational, augmented reality (AR) game based on the new Fernhill Park and Gardens in Stepaside, Dublin. Although the narrative of the game refers to dlr County Council’s Fernhill Park, it can equally apply to any parks and the challenges they face in the future. (https://www.dlrcoco.ie/parks) The augmented reality experience has been developed in collaboration with IADT’s Public Design Lab, Noho Creative Design and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. The project has been funded by the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) under the Discover Programme and led by Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, in a further partnership with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

This facilitated workshop will introduce a mobile phone-based application which uses augmented reality technology to display visualisations of the park and a map of Fernhill. The player will explore and learn about the topics of rewilding, reforestation and renewable energy, and can make real-time changes to the park based around these topics. The player will then choose a final scenario for Fernhill and will learn about the future impact of their decisions. The workshops promise to be fun for children and parents alike! ‘Fernhill Park experience’ can be downloaded from Google and Apple Play stores.

Please note that we are hosting this event at MARLAY PARK as the house in Fernhill is not yet suitable to host groups. This event does not include tours of Marlay House.