Designed with Devotion: Where Heritage Comes Alive

July 8, 2026

Kristin Bennani

What does it mean to design with devotion? These three SEGD Global Design Award-winning and finalist projects reveal how technology, storytelling, and sensory design deepen our connection to heritage through experiences crafted with remarkable care.

A Practice in Presence

Some experiences ask us to slow down.

We lower our voices without being told. We linger a little longer. We notice the texture of a material, the rhythm of light across a wall, the scent of oak or earth, the way sound fills a room. We pay closer attention.

That’s not accidental. It’s the result of careful design.

Whether through the rituals of creative practice, the quiet choreography of light across sacred architecture, or the deliberate pace of a whisky tasting, these experiences invite us to participate rather than simply observe.

This is what devotion feels like when it’s designed into an experience.

Across this year’s SEGD Global Design Awards, three projects demonstrate how thoughtfully designed experiences can transform heritage from something we learn about into something we inhabit. Though they span vastly different contexts—from the historic headquarters of a global beauty brand to one of the world’s most significant mosques and a whisky distillery nestled in the sacred foothills of Mount Emei—they share a remarkable sensibility. Each approaches heritage not as something to display, but as something to encounter with care.

Technology plays an essential role, but never the starring one. Cinematic media, machine learning, responsive environments, immersive sound, and interactive storytelling are woven so seamlessly into architecture and narrative that visitors remember not the technology itself, but the feeling of being fully present within the story.

Le Visionnaire

Design: Local Projects
Client: L’Oréal Groupe
Award: SEGD Global Design Awards, Merit (2025) – Branded Environments

Nearly a century after L’Oréal established its headquarters at 14 Rue Royale in Paris, Le Visionnaire transforms the company’s historic home into a place where heritage fuels future innovation. Rather than presenting the brand’s history as a static archive, the experience invites employees into the creative practices that have shaped L’Oréal for generations.

Rather than treating heritage as something to admire from a distance, Le Visionnaire invites employees to participate in the creative processes that have shaped L’Oréal for generations. Visitors explore historic artifacts, collect stories, and stand before a machine-learning-powered Visionary Wall, where a cascade of evolving images reveals unexpected relationships among color, form, architecture, and beauty. Here, artificial intelligence doesn’t replace creativity; rather, it quietly supports it, encouraging the timeless practice of collecting, noticing, comparing, and discovering. Heritage becomes an active collaborator, shaping not only how employees understand the company’s past, but how they imagine its future.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Visitor Centre

Design: Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Client: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Barker Langham
Award: SEGD Global Design Awards, Finalist (2025) – Exhibition

The Light and Peace Museum extends the experience of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque beyond its walls, inviting visitors into a deeper understanding of Islamic civilization and the values of openness, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence that define its legacy. Inspired by the Qur’anic verse, “God is the light of the heavens and the earth,” light becomes both metaphor and guide.

Beams of light sweep across intricately crafted mosque models while immersive projection, sound, and architecture surround visitors in an atmosphere of deep reflection. Every technological intervention serves the same purpose: to illuminate the stories, achievements, and enduring values at the heart of the mosque, allowing visitors to experience faith as something living rather than distant.

The Chuan Malt Whisky Distillery

Design: BRC Imagination Arts
Client: Pernod Ricard China
Award: SEGD Global Design Awards, Finalist (2025) – Branded Environments

Set against the mist-covered slopes of Mount Emei, one of China’s most sacred landscapes, The Chuan Malt Whisky Distillery transforms whisky making into an experience of place, craft, and cultural exchange. Architecture inspired by traditional Chinese teahouses, immersive storytelling, and sensory exploration create a destination where Eastern tradition and Western whisky-making coexist in remarkable harmony.

Visitors move slowly from gallery to gallery, learning how mountain water, regional barley, rare Chinese oak, and generations of craftsmanship shape every bottle. Warm timber interiors, the aroma of sandalwood and mandarin peel, and carefully choreographed digital moments deepen an appreciation for the landscape without ever competing with it. The design asks visitors to savor before they judge, revealing that every expression of The Chuan begins with the mountain itself.

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Guided by Light

What connects these projects is a shared act of stewardship. Each begins with something already rich with meaning and asks a simple question: How can design help people experience it more deeply?

The answer isn’t more technology. It’s more intention.

In each of these projects, technology behaves less like a tool and more like light itself, quietly guiding our attention toward what has always been worthy of it. Whether illuminating a sacred mountain, centuries of faith and cultural achievement, or the creative heritage of an iconic brand, immersive media, interactive storytelling, and machine learning recede into the background. What remains is something more enduring: a sense of presence, a deeper appreciation for what came before, and a renewed understanding of our place within those continuing stories.

Perhaps that’s the quiet power of designing with devotion. These experiences don’t simply communicate heritage; they create rituals of attention that shape the way we encounter it. They slow us down. They sharpen our senses. They remind us that some places, stories, and traditions are meant to be honored, not just passed through.