A day with Leonardo da Vinci

Immersive Spatial Design

Created to mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, A Day with Leonardo da Vinci is an unrealised immersive performance concept inviting audiences to experience Renaissance Milan from the perspective of Leonardo’s students. Rather than observing the story from a fixed position, visitors become part of it, moving through a sequence of interconnected spaces as they experience a fictional day in Leonardo’s workshop.

The journey begins independently through a vaulted cellar passage leading into the students’ living and sleeping quarters. From here, a performer takes on the role of one of Leonardo’s students and guides the audience into the workshop, where they meet Leonardo and participate in a lesson. Their route continues through a garden and into a marketplace before entering a narrow side street and returning through the workshop’s rear entrance, eventually completing the day back in the students’ quarters.

The spatial design draws closely on historical references while interpreting them atmospherically rather than attempting a literal reconstruction. Each location has its own identity, yet arches, doorways and passages create continuous visual and physical transitions between them. Designed to fit within a standard sports hall, the scenography uses this sequence of spaces to temporarily conceal the contemporary surroundings and create the sensation of moving through a larger historical environment.

The complete design is documented through a hand-built 1:50 scale model. Constructed primarily from card and balsa wood, with fabrics, modelling materials, beads and textured surfaces used for architectural and scenic details, the model explores both the overall audience journey and the individual character of each environment.

The images follow the sequence in which the audience would experience the spaces during the performance.