Designing worlds: From Dune to the real world

Marti Romances on Designing Future Worlds: Hollywood’s Vision Meets Silicon Valley’s Reality

Marti Romances, Co-founder and Creative Director of Territory Studio, addressed Web Summit Vancouver 2026, highlighting his company’s unique position at the intersection of story, design, and technology. With a global presence and over 220 employees, Territory Studio excels in visualizing future tech for Hollywood and leading innovators. Mr. Romances emphasized diversifying skills across industries, a strategy vital during COVID-19, allowing the studio to mitigate market risks by expanding into real products and brands, ensuring operational resilience.

The studio’s film work, including “Prometheus” and “Avengers,” involves visually prototyping non-existent technologies. This process of designing believable interfaces for cinematic universes naturally transitioned into creating interactive experiences for games and, subsequently, real-world applications like wearables, augmented reality, and advanced car displays. Their designs often anticipate future tech, as seen with “Swan Song,” where their AR system remarkably mirrored Apple’s Vision Pro, announced later.

Territory Studio applies its “create, don’t recreate” philosophy to diverse sectors. This includes contributing to the International Space Station for NASA, developing AR solutions for the Department of Defense, and advancing robotics and AI, all rooted in Hollywood design foundations.

A key area of expansion is the automotive industry, driven by electric and autonomous vehicles. Territory Studio collaborates with companies like Cadillac to design intuitive digital interfaces for large in-car screens, effectively translating complex vehicle data into user-friendly visual information.

A notable project is the Audi Active Sphere concept car, an autonomous vehicle that eschews traditional screens for augmented reality glasses. This innovative approach enables dynamic features such as on-demand tutorials for bike mounting, gesture-controlled cabin temperature, 3D navigation, and a “transparent car” view for off-road scenarios.

Mr. Romances underscored the importance of “learning by doing” and empirical validation, confirming the Audi Active Sphere’s AR system as a functional prototype. He expressed optimism for the imminent arrival of advanced AR glasses from tech giants, envisioning a future where this technology fosters a more integrated and connected interaction with the physical world. Territory Studio’s strength lies in bridging Hollywood’s imaginative scope with Silicon Valley’s technological prowess, transforming fictional visions into tangible realities through design and storytelling.