In 2015 we launched a new brand campaign for HSBC with the aim of inspiring our audience to pursue their hopes, dreams and ambitions, and then positioning HSBC as a natural partner to help them do so. To compliment and substantiate this, HSBC harness each and every opportunity to demonstrate and dramatise the fact that HSBC really does support human ambition – far beyond just its products and services, and into the global community.

Through its water programme – a 15-year partnership with WWF - HSBC puts the Supporting Human Ambition thought into action, funding sustainability projects along five major rivers around the world.

HSBC asked us to communicate this project to travellers at London’s Gatwick Airport.

HSBC have brought one of the world’s longest rivers to the sky by creating an ambitious and unique sound installation in Gatwick Airport’s Skybridge: ‘A Living River’. The experience brings to life the entire length of the Yangtze River, from source to mouth, travelling 6,300km using sound alone, giving travellers the chance to experience authentic sounds from the river in rich detail, featuring over a 100 hours of real sounds taken directly from locations along the Yangtze.

Designed to transport people from one location to another, it makes people consider water and the river in a thought provoking manner.

A key component of the idea was to make the experience responsive, meaning the soundscape adapts to time of day, weather and the movement of people, making it immersive and realistic.

For over two minutes, passengers are immersed in real sounds from the river using 100 hours of multi-channel audio captured from 35 locations along the the Yangtze, taking people on a journey, before their journey. Imagery and messaging connects audio to location, while the layout of the microphone array was directly related to the layout of the speakers, so the real environments are superimposed in incredible detail and realism into the airport.

The longest and most advanced soundscape created in an airport, the installation is made possible by over 60,000m of speaker cable – the length of 584 football pitches.

The experience is controlled by a bespoke system and algorithm; it adapts to the time of the day, the movements and density of travellers and the weather on the Yangtze using a real time data feed, meaning every experience is unique and tailored appropriate to the time of day.