Meet the Guy Who Designs Your Favorite Theme Park Rides
Written by Ethan M. Stone
You know that feeling when you walk through a theme park, and suddenly feel a change — the lighting shifted, the path narrowed, the air changed? That is not an accident. Someone designed that moment. And increasingly, that someone is Ashutosh Rokade.
Originally from Pune, India, Rokade is a Production Designer at Basemint Creative, where his job is essentially to build entire worlds for a living. He has contributed to projects for leading theme park operators across the United States.
Before moving into themed entertainment, he built his foundation in production design across a range of projects. During a single year at SCAD, Rokade designed sets for student films ranging from a Gucci fashion film to a TurboTax ad to a documentary about a cat café. He also landed an internship on Todd Haynes’ May December. “What people do not realize is how much coordination goes into every set,” he says. “It is very precise and highly collaborative.”
Then came Carved in Stone, an LED Volume production where he served as a Co-Art Director. It won Best Pilot at the Hollywood Series Awards, took a Web Series Award at Synergy Film Festival, and got nominated for Best Production Design at LAWEBFEST. Not bad for someone who had been in the country for barely a year.
So, what exactly is an LED Volume? Rokade lights up when you ask. “You walk into a massive space surrounded by towering LED walls, and instead of green screens you see fully rendered environments — landscapes, cities, interiors — all reacting to the camera in real time. It honestly feels like stepping into the future of filmmaking.”
The Art Directors Guild agreed he was onto something — they selected him for their Production Design Initiative in 2023, a competitive program that connects emerging designers with established industry mentors.
What a lot of people do not realize is that Rokade’s path into theme parks was not exactly planned. He graduated from SCAD in May 2023, right when the writers’ strike shut down Hollywood. As an international graduate student, he needed work fast. He started networking hard, hitting up industry conventions and putting his portfolio in front of anyone who would look at it. Basemint Creative brought him on as a contractor. He proved himself, got a full-time offer, and never looked back.
These days, Rokade’s work spans concept sketches, spatial design, and visual development for large-scale themed entertainment projects. He went from Production Designer I to Production Designer II at Basemint in just over a year, taking on bigger projects and more creative freedom. “I became more involved in early concept development, scenic design, storyboarding, and overall planning,” he says. “The scale and complexity of the work increased, but so did the level of creative freedom.”
One thing that makes him different from a lot of designers in the space is his background. He trained as an architect for five years in India before studying production design. That means he thinks about how things are actually built, not just how they look. “Architecture taught me how people move through space, how environments shape emotion, and how to think at scale,” he explains. “At some point I realized I did not just want to design buildings. I wanted to design experiences.”
And yes, visiting theme parks for fun is different now. “There is always a part of my mind that is analyzing the space,” he admits with a laugh. “I notice how environments transition, how sightlines are controlled. Sometimes I catch myself thinking how a moment could be improved.”
When I ask what drives everything, Rokade gets quiet for a second. “If someone forgets they are on a set or inside a designed environment and simply responds to it emotionally — whether that is excitement, curiosity, or nostalgia — then I feel the design has done its job.”
Noted. Next time you are screaming on a roller coaster, and the scenery somehow makes it better — you will know who to thank.
