Montreal, Canada · Project story
Montreal Lantern Carnival: A Garden Reimagined After Dark
Across pavilions, lakes and winding paths, Shilong transformed a familiar garden into a luminous journey of dragons, monumental wildlife and Chinese legends—fabricated in China, shipped in modules and assembled in Montreal.
Bring your venue to life
The creative brief
Build a lantern world that felt discovered—not simply displayed
The venue already had its own character: traditional architecture, landscaped paths, mature planting and open water. The challenge was to make the lanterns feel native to that setting. Instead of filling empty space with unrelated displays, we shaped a route in which every scene revealed the next.
Designing with the venue
Every turn of the path revealed a new chapter
A dragon gate established the first moment of arrival. Beyond it, animal characters, palace architecture and waterside compositions changed the pace of the walk. Reflections doubled the drama after sunset, while strong silhouettes drew visitors naturally from one scene to the next.
From sketch to sculpture
Characters that held their expression at monumental scale
At festival scale, visitors read a character twice: first from its silhouette across the garden, then through its eyes, teeth, posture and surface detail up close. Structure, fabric and hand-applied color therefore had to work as one visual system—both in daylight and when illuminated from within.
Shape before surface
Hand-formed steel establishes the tiger’s movement, anatomy and strength before any fabric is applied.
Expression in the details
Layered color, sharp contours and carefully finished eyes turn a steel frame into a convincing dragon.
Scale with a purpose
Vertical compositions become orientation points, distant landmarks and irresistible places to stop for a photograph.
Built in China, assembled in Montreal
The spectacle arrived as a sequence—not a pile of parts
Every large scene was divided, protected and packed according to the order in which it would be rebuilt. Clear module logic gave the installation team a practical path from unloading to lifting, connection, alignment and final lighting checks.
Step 01The gateway takes shape
Columns, floral details and the central lantern were raised and aligned to create the project’s first landmark.
Step 02Dragons rise above the route
Mobile lifts gave the crew safe access to connect, secure and finish the elevated dragon sections.
Step 03Pieces become a world
Dragons, mountains and cloud forms were positioned together until separate modules read as one continuous scene.
Monumental architecture, modular logic
Even the palace was engineered to travel
What visitors saw as one sweeping building arrived as a carefully organized set of structural supports, columns, roof sections and decorative skins. Designing those elements for transport and lifting allowed the palace to be rebuilt on site without losing its architectural rhythm.
The moment the lights came on
By day, a sculpture garden. After dark, another world.
In daylight, visitors could see the scale, color and hand-finished surfaces of each lantern. After sunset, the same route changed completely: dragons glowed across the water, processions emerged from the darkness and every reflection became part of the composition.
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What Shilong delivered
One creative idea carried from the first route plan to final switch-on
Story & route
Scenes arranged to build anticipation, discovery and memorable photo moments.
Custom fabrication
Steel, lighting, fabric and hand finishing developed as one complete system.
Overseas logistics
Modules packed and sequenced around the needs of the destination crew.
Final installation
Lifting, connection, alignment and lighting checks through final switch-on.
Build the next landmark
What could your venue become after dark?
Share your location, site plan, opening date and creative ambition. We will help shape them into a lantern experience visitors can move through, photograph and remember.