Turning a milestone anniversary into an immersive call for change
To celebrate its 80th anniversary, Arup asked Emota to help them bring together business leaders, policymakers and changemakers to explore how to build a better future for the world’s cities. Through powerful storytelling and thought-provoking discussion, the event inspired fresh perspectives and meaningful connections.
Find out how we transformed a milestone celebration into a catalyst for conversation.
The Challenge
World-renowned engineering consultancy Arup has an enviable project list. It includes architectural icons like the Sydney Opera House, The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Las Vegas Sphere, and much of London’s 2012 Olympic Park.
Arup asked us to help them celebrate their 80th Anniversary with an evening reception in central London. But they didn’t want it to feel like a sales pitch, or ‘just a party’.
Arup wanted to invite politicians, policymakers and CEOs to an unmissable experience that would position the brand as a modern, forward-thinking partner for business and government. A true ‘convener of people’ who brings the right people together, inspires them with new thinking, and sparks discussion and action around creating better places for the world’s people to live.
The Solution
In close partnership with Arup, we defined a proposition for the event series: Arup brings people together to explore better futures for the places we live. Plus, we identified a principle to live by: Expertise x lived experience. It combined to create an evening with real purpose.
The event combined insight from leading thinkers with the real lived experience of people navigating everyday life in our cities. All feeding into the core theme of the evening’s content and discussions: How can we design better futures for our cities?
Full immersion
When it comes to receptions, this audience has seen it all. So, we knew we had to be creatively ambitious to deliver something unforgettable.
To ensure the evening inspired a challenging audience, we needed to think big. Really big.
Enter The Lightroom.
A truly HUGE immersive venue in London’s Kings Cross. Four stories high with projection on all 4 walls and the floor, its 28 projectors create an astonishing 1500 square metre image that wraps around and under the audience.
Totally immersive. Totally massive. Totally creatively delicious.
An audience journey that was all about questions
From the moment guests arrived, we got them thinking.
First, the next generation of leaders – Arup’s Young Creator Network – met the guests and guided them to a gallery, packed with self-created content that shared their views on what makes a city great.
Then, our audience followed a pathway paved with tough questions through an immersive sonic experience. Snatches of overheard conversation asked questions about key topics like transport, climate change and gentrification.
As guests exited the experience, they caught a first glimpse of the gigantic showspace. Inside, a vast gallery that showcased UK cities, Arup project imagery and provocative questions, written in six-foot lettering across the walls.
What followed was an evening of thought leadership, connection, discussion and inspiration, hosted by Monocle journalist Carlota Rebelo.
Arup’s CEO, Jerome Frost and Chair, Hilde Tonne set the tone for the evening.
Powerful film
Then, the lights fell. A moment of silence. And the living, connected city sprang to life at a truly epic scale.
The walls themselves seemed to open, revealing vast cityscapes at impossible scale.
We explored the systems, networks and infrastructure that make urban life possible. Many of them shaped by the people standing in the room.
Then, we challenged Arup’s guests to think at the scale of whole cities. Surrounding them with specialist gigapixel, helicopter-shot photography that revealed real cities at a scale normally impossible to experience.
Finally, we shifted focus, showing intimate portraits of real human lives. Moments of joy, connection, shared experience and humanity, reminding a highly influential audience of the responsibility they carry.
Decisions that don’t just shape skylines. They shape millions of lives.
Inspiring speakers
With guests in the perfect mindset, three visionary speakers took to the stage: Arup’s Chief Innovation Officer, Raj Patel; former Mayor of Stockholm Anna König Jerlmyr; and design leader Thomas Heatherwick.
Each speaker tackled a question about the future of cities. And each was accompanied by a bespoke immersive world that transformed around them.
Poetry from the future
To close, Arup Young Creator Iffat Rahman delivered a goosebump-inducing performance of her hopeful poem “Cities of the Future”.
As Iffat performed the piece to a spellbound audience, illustrations created by talented Arup illustrator Ahmad Harun sprang to animated life across the walls.
A chance to connect
The evening then wound down with drinks, music and discussion between guests, all while immersed in extraordinary city visuals captured by specialist aerial photographer Andrew Griffiths.
From end to end, every part of the event took full advantage of everything the incredible location had to offer, moving guests through a carefully structured experience from lived reality to expert insight and collective reflection.
Happy birthday Arup. Here’s to leading the discussion for the next 80 years.
Sustainability
Sustainability was embedded throughout the event, with every major decision reviewed through an environmental lens.
Key measures included:
- Lightroom’s location within London’s Coal Drops Yard reflects a broader approach to sustainable urban redevelopment, including the adaptive reuse of historic infrastructure, pedestrian-focused public spaces, and strong public transport connectivity
- Choosing a central venue with excellent public transport links helped reduce travel-related emissions by an estimated 770 kgCO₂e (compared to all attendees needing to take individual taxis for the average London commute of 9.5km each way)
- Accessibility provisions beyond typical venue standards included step-free access with lifts to all levels; wheelchair hire; dedicated accessible seating within the main space; ear defenders and assisted listening systems available; calm space available
- Over 80% of bowl food had no red meat and 4 out of 6 canapé options were vegan or vegetarian: reducing catering emissions by approximately 72% compared with a red meat-based menu
- Reusable serveware used throughout
- UK wines and beers were prioritised
- Working with local suppliers and a B Corp-certified caterer committed to surplus food redistribution (to Oasis Community Fridge) and waste management (remaining food waste processed using an aerobic digester)
- A digital-first production approach, combined with the utilization of Lightroom’s existing in-house infrastructure, helped reduce the event’s overall footprint by minimising additional staging, scenic build, and supplier transport
- Floral installations were repurposed post-event through Floral Angels for community use
The result was an immersive experience that balanced ambitious creative delivery with responsible event design.
The Value Created
The event certainly helped to shift Arup’s 80th anniversary away from a retrospective look back, and towards a live, urgent conversation about the next 80 years. A future that belongs to all of us, and that will be shaped by many of the people who were in the room.
Arup exceeded its target for VIP invitation acceptances and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from guests.
To quote some of the evening’s guests:
”It was a spectacular evening”
“The presentations were amazing!”
“It was great to see a new direction set for Arup”
“Many thanks for the generous hospitality, inspiring discussions and amazing backdrops on the evening. What a great way to celebrate the milestone. We look forward to continuing the relationship over the coming decades…”
“Great venue, great content and great crowd!”
Our ‘Arup at 80’ celebration in London needed to be creatively surprising, beautifully executed, and genuinely meaningful. Instead of offering our guests self-congratulatory opulence, we gave them ideas that will shape the future delivered as part of an exhilarating show. It was a night to remember for all the right reasons. Partnering with Emota allowed us to achieve all of this.
– Dr Erin Gill – Global Corporate Affairs and Partnerships Leader, Arup
