2026 Central Taiwan Lantern Festival – Children's Joy Valley

This project is located in the lantern festival exhibition area of Taichung Central Park and was planned by the Taichung City Department of Education. With “childlike wonder” as its theme, the design creates a luminous playground dedicated to families and children. People’s memories of childhood are often filled with light. Inspired by fairy tales and children’s imagination, the design team transformed familiar storybook imagery into illuminated scenes, forming a dreamlike pathway for exploration, photography, and interaction. When night falls, the park becomes a colorful fairy-tale kingdom where children run through the lights while adults rediscover the laughter of their own childhood in the same glow.
The lantern zone is organized as a story-driven journey. The experience begins at the entrance where welcoming elves greet visitors, gradually leading them through different fairy-tale-themed scenes. Guests first arrive at the vibrant Children’s Joy Valley, then pass through the Smart Candy House surrounded by sweet dessert forms, before encountering installations of characters such as the Brave Musician, the Happiness Carriage, and the Dream-Flying Elephant.
While preserving the natural landscape of the park, the design carefully maintains safe and clear circulation routes. In Children’s Joy Valley, light falls across the ground like icing sugar, and each scene resembles a page from a fairy-tale book, allowing visitors to read the story as they walk.
Interactive elements are a major highlight of the zone. An infrared-sensing saxophone plays melodies when activated, while a harp and drum surfaces trigger lighting effects. Sound and light synchronize and transmit toward the central installation, the Tree of Dream Pursuit, transforming the entire area into a collaborative light-and-sound performance created by visitors themselves.
During holidays, special Cinderella role-play events are arranged. Actors ride a pumpkin carriage through the lantern zone and interact with visitors, allowing children to step directly into the fairy-tale world while enhancing the narrative and participatory atmosphere of the entire exhibition area.