Environmental design through intellectual heritage. Walt Disney Imagineerings patents

Abstract

The new connotations of the term environmental design involve the implementation of devices and technological assemblies that modify an architectural environment to alter the perception of its users. The use of these systems in Disneyland theme parks and their registration in the American public patent system by the company Walt Disney Imagineering, reveals a whole genealogy of resources for the artificial modification of urban and architectural environments. In this text we will classify some of the most relevant patents for environmental design created by the Disney company in three main stages. The evolution of the nature of the patented technological systems will also reveal the trends in the environmental devices implemented in the city, highlighting the importance of the new digital layers superimposed on the physical reality of the space.