Downtown San Francisco is not a place I’d generally associate with feelings of calm or wonder. A hectic array of pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and buses weave their way through a maze of skyscrapers. Shining temples of business, technology, and commercialism bely a seedy, often just out of view layer of urban decay. As I hop off the bus in downtown San Francisco at Market and 6th, I step into the roar of late afternoon traffic, dodge the morass of of humanity coming and going, hurry past the department stores, bars, and pawn shops of the city’s slowly transforming hub, and turn into Onedome’s new downtown space. And suddenly, I’m calm.

Stepping into the large, 20,000 square-foot themed space, the hustle of the city streets immediately seems distant. The space is built to be welcoming. The entrance is beautifully adorned with a mural, commissioned by New York-based street artist WERC and brought to life with projection-mapping by TICO. Lobby exhibits emphasize the communal, and a cafe can be found in the entrance serving (non-alcoholic) herbal elixirs and raw snacks to the public, including those without tickets to the main exhibition. The “dragon tunnel” lobby features a series of projections, some of which are user triggered, as well as several socially-oriented exhibits, such as an infinity mirror box and “Galaxy Sphere.”

Onedome positions itself as an answer to the proliferation of selfie palaces and virtual reality experiences. Augmented reality headsets don’t obscure the field of vision, allowing visitors to be aware of each other and share the experience. In their own parlance, they aim to shift the “me” to the “we.” Their experiences are “built to be shared with friends or family, and that invites a moment of awe and beauty, collaboration and presence.”

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The Unreal Garden itself is a mixed reality experience featuring the work of 10 different artists. Visitors exploring The Unreal Garden will find themselves exploring 9 different art installations, each layered with perceptual components of physical space, sound, projection, and augmented reality. Upon donning the headset and stepping into the space, I was immediately struck by how fully realized the physical space was. As I entered, I encountered garden that emphasizes both the natural and the otherworldly. The lush vegetation and rockwork giving way to a waterfall, a stony path, several small ponds, and a small wooden house. Onedome describes this fusion of the real and imagined as “the bewilderness.”

With each step along the way, I encountered new chances to explore and enhance, gradually revealing the digital works of art, one-by-one, creating a sense of agency and connection with the pieces. Each of the pieces fit into the space uniquely and offered new opportunities to explore. Some were dynamic, moving structures that would shine brighter as I investigated them with my digital flashlight, while others were calmer and more contemplative. Some were smaller and rewarded a full 360 view, while others were grander in scale and were best enjoyed by stepping in and through them. All the while, the entire space continued to grow brighter and more dynamic, the sound matured and grew more enveloping, and the music evolved, swelling and becoming more beautiful and intense.

As I reached the end of the exhibit, I looked back at the garden I had unlocked and traversed, and marveled one last time at the artistic and technical fullness and complexity before stepping onto a porch, out of the garden and into the obligatory selfie station, and then back into the cafe.

The Unreal Garden is only the first ambitious step for Onedome, a company with big plans. In addition to the mixed reality experience on the first floor, the company is hard at work developing a second experience downstairs, an immersive gallery — an array of 13 to 15 interactive rooms/displays, opening this winter. The modular, interconnected area can be updated as needed with new artwork and displays, and promises to be equally immersive and enhanced with Easter Eggs and secret passages.

Additionally, through their partnerships with Microsoft and HP, as well as a recently announced $3.3 million in funding, Onedome plans to expand to further locations across the US, with 10 more locations planned in the next five years, each with their own unique theme. Their lofty goal of connection and collaboration — using technology and immersive experiences to connect people more deeply with each other and the present moment — promises to bring new exciting experiences to be shared for the foreseeable future.

The Unreal Garden is located at 1025 Market Street, San Francisco, CA. Tickets are $22–37 and can be purchased at www.onedome.global.

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