Head-spinning funfair rides are part of the attraction of Drawn To The Future, an exhibition of new approaches to architectural visualisations at The Building Centre in London.
“We explore how digital media is changing the way we create built forms,” says the show curator, Lewis Blackwell, executive director of strategy at The Building Centre.
The most popular exhibit looks likely to be the virtual rollercoaster developed at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Viewed on an Oculus Rift headset, it simulates a rollercoaster journey around the skyscrapers of a fantasy city.
Visitors can also experience an immersive reality environment. The Soluis Interact dome features multiple demonstrations – from touring a restored virtual version of the fire-destroyed Mackintosh Library at Glasgow School of Art, to enabling the specification of a new hotel environment.
Exhibits include the first public showing by Arup of a complex visualization of the controversial HS2 rail route from London to Birmingham. Helicopter footage blends with the proposed engineering works for the line, while a touch screen display allows users to examine detailed multi-year perspectives of key points along the line. Arup’s visualization of developments at CERN and of airflow simulations in a Middle East stadium are also featured.
“Digital media and architecture and engineering are converging rapidly,” comments Blackwell. “From the initial concept through to presentation and detailing of design, to construction and maintenance, we see new tools coming into use. We view buildings more completely, in a four-dimensional way, through the digital data flow of drawn and recorded imagery, than at any one point of their physical existence. We are still in the early stages of envisaging where this can go and how it starts to change the nature of the building.”
Other presentations include a look at the Cityzenith 5D Smart City planning platform for managing city data, which is juxtaposed with a view of the Cities Skyline planning simulation game, and also a version of Minecraft in which Ordnance Survey data has been embedded.
The largest graphic element overall is not strictly architecture at all, but is Yondu’s fighter from Guardians of The Galaxy, an example of feature-film concept art by Atomhawk Studio. “Here is a detailed vision of a sci-fi environment that started on a graphic tablet, but ended up with detailed drawing enabling it to be partly constructed with the help of BMW engineering,” explains Blackwell. “This then became a physical environment as part of a set that gets blended with CGI in the movie. In a way, the project comments on what happens with ‘real’ buildings – they start with the drawing of an idea and end as a space for multiple, subjective, user experiences and, ultimately, memories.”
Drawn To The Future runs until 3 October at The Building Centre, Store Street, London. There is a supporting programme of related talks and other events.
Title
Exhibition: Drawn to the FutureWebsite
Organizers
From
August 17, 2015 11:40 AMUntil
October 03, 2015 05:00 PMVenue
The Building CentreAddress
26 Store Street, London. WC1E 7BT