Ingredients is a new immersive experience that brings visitors into the heart and soul of the brewing process. Positioned at the start of The Guinness Storehouse visitor journey, it creates a multisensory experience, deconstructing the famous brew into its four powerful ingredients: hops, barley, yeast, and water.
The lighting design, by Michael Grubb Studio, was developed in collaboration with branding innovation studio Dalziel & Pow. Their vision celebrates the farming process, where each ingredient is nurtured, selected, and treated with care and creativity to perfect Guinness every time.
The experience begins with a sensory reset, transitioning through a hand-crafted tunnel to an impressive introductory screen, acting as a billboard-sized trailer for the story ahead. Lighting here is restrained, giving the digital display maximum focus.
Visitors are then transported into a field of real barley, with dramatic and changeable weather. The lighting reflects this narrative, emulating the passage of time through a choreographed combination of light and shadow play. Subtle shifts from cool to warm tones evoke the feeling of standing amidst golden crop fields.
The next space is dedicated to water, featuring a 14-metre curved water curtain that prints key stories in water. Integrated lighting enhances the drama, creating ‘caustic’ effects by reflecting light from suspended metallic materials onto surrounding walls.
Visitors then enter a cathedral-like space, where hops appear to grow endlessly upwards, illuminated and reflected around them. Silhouettes are created by lighting through hanging hops, with hints of green glowing through semi-translucent edges, akin to sunlight breaking through a canopy. Luminaires are discreetly integrated, ensuring AV displays remain the focal point. Gobo projections within the tree canopies layer the lighting effect at multiple levels.
The journey concludes with yeast, presented in a bright, mist-filled space, evoking the transition from nature to a modern, scientific lab.
The final lighting scheme is a testament to collaborative design and innovation. By replicating seasonal changes and focusing on the unique characteristics of each ingredient, the lighting amplifies the narrative of the ingredients’ journey from nature to brew.
Extensive testing and collaboration with Dalziel & Pow and other team members ensured the solution was both impactful and sustainable. Lighting suppliers were selected based on circularity, TM65, and TM66 ratings, prioritising local manufacturing. All fittings are designed for reuse and updates over a minimum of 10 years.
The Guinness Storehouse has transformed Dublin’s economy, boosted Guinness’s global sales, and redefined industry approaches to brand experiences. Michael Grubb Studio has proudly acted as Lighting Guardians for over 10 years, working closely with Diageo’s in-house team and external consultants to refurbish the experience in phases. All work follows the initial Light & Brand masterplan, the blueprint for every project since 2013.
