The Wall of Emotions
An interactive Unity installation that turns each participant's photograph, chosen emotion, and sport into an animated balloon within a shared visual composition.
- Date
- Role & stack
- Software Development • Interactive Installation • Client-Server
The Wall of Emotions is an interactive Unity installation that transforms each participant's contribution into a dynamic, collective visual composition that continuously evolves over time.
Through a guided tablet experience, visitors could take a photograph and select an emotion and a sport. The image and its associated information were sent in real time to the main workstation, where the participant's face appeared on the large display inside an animated balloon.
The goal was to design an immediate and accessible experience that placed the audience at its center and transformed an individual action into a collective moment connecting sport and emotion.
From the tablet to the interactive wall
- Participation — A guided tablet flow accompanies visitors through the photo-capture process.
- Selection — Participants associate an emotion and a sport with their photograph.
- Transmission — The image and its metadata are validated and sent in real time to the main Unity workstation.
- Visualization — The face is automatically fitted and placed inside an animated balloon on the wall.
The nine available emotions — joy, strength, courage, resilience, pride, challenge, freedom, inclusion, and inspiration — use distinct colors and visual elements. The six sports are skiing, curling, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, hockey, and biathlon. Every new contribution becomes part of a shared composition visible both to the participant and to the audience gathered around the main display.
A living, shared installation
The balloons move with organic swaying, variations in depth and size, overlap prevention, and soft collisions. Visitors can interact through touch or mouse to pop them, producing particles and audio feedback, or create radial impulses that push nearby elements away.
Bonus balloons trigger collective effects such as waves, pulses, and multiple bursts. Periodic timed missions invite visitors to find specific colors and emotions, while countdowns, fireworks, and motivational messages turn free interaction into a short shared challenge.
A music playlist, video backgrounds, cinematic intermissions, and an automatic attract mode keep the wall active and engaging even when no one is interacting.
Client-server architecture and persistent content
The tablet client communicates with the main Windows workstation through an HTTP server embedded in the Unity application. Each multipart/form-data request is validated and stored locally as a PNG image with metadata serialized to JSON through JsonUtility.
The persistent archive allows received contributions to be reused over time and keeps the composition alive. Balloon generation, recycling, movement, and interaction are handled by separate systems, allowing emotions, sports, messages, and audiovisual content to be updated without redesigning the entire experience.
My contribution
- developed the client-server architecture for receiving audience contributions in real time;
- validated, managed, and locally stored photographs and selected emotions and sports;
- implemented balloon generation and recycling from received contributions;
- created automatic photo fitting within the visual elements;
- developed viewport movement, depth, overlap prevention, and soft collisions;
- implemented touch and mouse interactions with bursts, particles, audio, and radial impulses;
- created bonus balloons, timed missions, and celebratory feedback;
- managed music, video playlists, intermissions, and attract mode;
- built debugging tools and test content to simulate the experience without a tablet.
Technical stack
| Area | Technology |
|---|---|
| Engine | Unity 6000.2.8f1 |
| Language | C# |
| UI and text | Unity UI / TextMesh Pro |
| Networking | HttpListener / UnityWebRequest |
| Transmission | multipart/form-data |
| Data | JsonUtility, persistent PNG and JSON files |
| Video | Unity VideoPlayer / RenderTexture |
| Interaction | Touch, mouse, audio, particles, and 2D assets |
| Target | Windows workstation with tablet client |
Project value
The Wall of Emotions combines audience participation, sport, and emotional communication in an installation that grows with every new contribution. The tablet makes the experience accessible in a few simple steps, while the main display immediately brings each participant into a lively, playful, and shared environment.
From a technical perspective, the project integrates content acquisition, network communication, data persistence, animation, interaction, and audiovisual management within a single modular application that can evolve without redesigning the entire system.
Credits and rights
Project developed within TopTouch for Casa Italia during the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. Trademarks, logos, images, and proprietary assets belong to their respective owners.