Digital and Virtual Architecture: a review of two projects

During the past four decades digital technologies have
had a major impact on architecture and have completely
revolutionized the way architecture is designed
and visualized. The ability to digitally manipulate architectural
components and to consider all possible configurations
in advance has provided new, alternate means to
design architecture (Bermudez & Klinger, 2003). If we
observe some examples of “digitally designed architecture”,
such as the Hadid nuragic and contemporary art
museum in Cagliari (Zaha Hadid, 2007) and Frank O.
Gehry’s Experience Music Project (O. Gehry, 2000) we
note that these unique architectural designs could be created
only in a computer-mediated environment.
Digital representation has proven to be an excellent tool
for the communication of design ideas (Mohan, 2003).
Instead of symbolic representations, static renderings
and time consuming physical models, technologies such
as photorealistic 3D animation have made it possible to
create convincing renderings and walkthroughs that can
be easily understood by non-specialists (Uddin, 1999).
In addition, a completely new form of computer-based
architecture has recently emerged: Virtual Architecture.
Maher defines Virtual Architecture as an ‘..interactive,
networked spatial environment designed using the metaphor
of physical architecture, from which it inherits
many visual and spatial characteristics’ (Maher et al.,
2000). The main purpose of Virtual Architecture is to
provide an electronic location for people to socialise,
work, and learn in the same way physical architecture
does. Because Virtual Architecture uses the metaphor
of cities, buildings and rooms, it can be designed by architects
and then constructed by computer graphics programmers
(Maher et al., 1999).
In this paper we describe and discuss two architectural
projects that were developed entirely in a computerbased
environment. The first is a 3D animation-based
project whose goal was to design and visualize a visionary
new city. The second project is an example of
Virtual Architecture and its objective was to design and
develop an online virtual world.
2. “Samarkand on the Euxine”: a Digital
Architecture project
The objective of the project was to design and visualize
a new city in the Republic of Turkey near the present site
of Istanbul. The city would serve as a satellite city that
would provide aid in the event of a catastrophic earthquake.
Devastating earthquakes have visited Istanbul
in the past at intervals varying from 300 to 100 years
and the next one is due any moment. The Metropolitan
Municipality of Istanbul is planning for response to the
dreaded event in many ways. One of these is the development
of an entirely new satellite city.
The vision of the city was created at the Envision Center
at Purdue University by a team of graduate and undergraduate
students led by the author and by a faculty in
Purdue Civil Engineering. The team chose to use photorealistic
3D animation technology because of its ability
to represent design in an intuitive, concrete way.
The main advantage of 3D photorealistic animation
over CAD visualizations is ‘representational fidelity’.
Representational fidelity refers to the degree of realism
of the rendered 3-D objects and the degree of realism
provided by temporal changes to these objects. 3D
animation-based visualizations include true-to-life replicas
of buildings, displayed with accurate perspective,
occlusion, photographic-quality materials, lights, and
motion. When making a presentation supplemented with
a photorealistic 3D visualization, architects and designers
can convey their visions clearly to those who need
to understand them in order to make decisions. In this
case, it is hoped that the powerful 3D imagery produced
will convince the decision-makers at the Metropolitan
Municipality of Istanbul to act with the needed alacrity.
The project presented many challenges because of its
complexity, the scale of the area to be visualized (40,000
acres), and the aggressive production timeline. The overall
city plan was developed with the goal of creating a
green city with an advanced cyber infrastructure dedicated
to communications, security, and recycling. The plan
includes a business district, research and government
centers, modern museums, concert halls, theaters, hospitals,
retail centers, exhibition halls, buildings for social
functions, a sports center, and a hotel district. Figure 1
shows a partial 3D map of the city. The design started with a low-detail city plan in the form
of a .dwg AUTOCAD file. The majority of the design
decisions were made directly in the 3D software as sections
of the city were being visualized. The main design
goal was to create a modern city that takes advantage
of state-of-the-art building techniques and, at the same
time, includes architectural elements reminiscent of the
Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. This design theme
is clearly evident in Figure 1 which shows a cluster of
earthquake-resistant buildings arranged in the shape of
the “Selcuk star”, a classical Ottoman symbol.
All buildings were designed, modeled and textured in
MAYA 8.5 software. Global illumination and radiosity
were used to give an accurate depiction of real life lights
and environments; photo realistically rendered human
figures, vehicles and landscape elements were added in
order to accentuate the realistic look of the visualization
and provide a sense of scale. The animation can
be viewed at: http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/~jwozniak/
TG08/13/13.html“
3. The 21st Century World”: a Virtual
Architecture project
The “21st Century World” is a collaborative project between
Purdue University and Educate for tomorrow
(EforT, Hawaii). Its objective is the development of a
3D online virtual city designed to allow students and the
general public to interactively explore nanotechnology
enhanced products of the 21st Century. Users can travel
through the city, enter buildings, manipulate objects, and interact with 3D avatars to learn about nanotechnology.
The virtual city includes buildings with nanoenhanced
materials and self cleaning windows that absorb energy
from sun light. It features cleaner and safer mass transportation,
alternate fuel stations, cars with self-repairing
body-paint scratches, and buildings that grow crops indoors. The futuristic city was designed entirely in 3D STUDIO
MAX 9.0 software by a team of architects and nano-science
experts (figure 2 shows two renderings of the city).
The models were exported from 3D STUDIO MAX as
VRML files and the interactive application is currently
being programmed. Images and fly-trough animation
can be accessed at: http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cgt/i3/
nanofactor/web%20site/index.htm
4. Discussion
The project described in section 2 demonstrates how
digital technologies such as photorealistic 3D modeling
and animation can benefit architectural visualization
and design. The primary advantage of 3D photorealistic
modeling lies in the ability to visualize design in more
concrete terms. The usefulness of maps and architectural
drawings can be limited, particularly to the non-specialist, whereas a photorealistic virtual model can enable decision
makers and the general public to see the aspects of
a project from every possible angle. ‘As a result, it can
increase the level of feedback and constructive responses
before taking any financial risks.’ (Wilson, 1998). In
our case, clear communication and risk mitigation were
the most compelling drivers of incorporating 3D photorealistic
modeling/animation into the project. Considering
the cost, scale and scope of projects like the one
described in the paper, producing a photorealistic virtual
model is a good investment because it can speed up decision
making processes, streamline approvals, and reduce
costly change orders (Bouchlaghem, 2005).
Moreover, the ability to interactively experiment with
a variety of shapes and forms and see the results being
visualized in real-time time are tremendous benefits of
3D modeling and animation technology. Samarkand on
the Euxine has received very positive feedback from the
officials at the Municipality of Istanbul and has therefore
demonstrated that effective architectural designs can be
created entirely in a computer-mediated environment.
The author agrees with (Bermudez & Klinger, 2003)
who argue that digital thinking is indeed architectural
thinking.
The project described in section 3 is an example of virtual
place that draws on knowledge of architectural design.
Maher argues that most virtual environments are created
by programmers rather than designed by architects and,
as a result, we are in the “era of vernacular virtual architecture”
(Maher et al., 2000). In the development of the
21st Century World, provision of functionality and geometric
description of the space were considered equally
important factors. The objective was not only to create a
highly interactive and functional environment, but also
to design a city based on the principles of good urban
design. In particular we considered the principle of ‘Legibility
and Wayfinding’ to help the users in orientation
and navigation tasks; the principle of ‘Character and
Meaning’ to help the participants recognize and value
the differences between one area and another; and the
principle of ‘Order and Incident’ (e.g., balancing consistency
and variety) to provide the users with an appealing
environment that promotes curiosity and motivates them
to continue to explore (Barnett, 1982) (Larice & Mac-
Donald, 2007). 27 users have evaluated the 21st Century
World so far. Their feedback on usability and appeal has
been extremely positive, thus confirming the importance
of implementing architectural and urban design principles
in the design of virtual places.
References
Barnett, J. (1982). An Introduction to Urban Design.
Harper & Row, New York .
Bermudez, J. & Klinger, K. (editors) (2003). Digital
Technology and Architecture - White Paper. ACADIA
2003. http://www.acadia.org/ACADIA_whitepaper.pdf.
Bouchlaghem, D., Shang, H., Whyte, J., Ganah, A.
(2005). Visualisation in architecture, engineering and
construction (AEC). Automation in Construction, 14,
287– 295.
Frank.O.Gehry’s Experience Music Project. http://www.
arcspace.com/architechts/gehry/emp_n/
Larice, M. & MacDonald, E. (editors) (2007). The Urban
Design Reader. Routledge, New York London.
Maher, M.L., Simoff, S., Gu, N., Lau, K.H. (2000). Designing
Virtual Architecture. Proceedings of CAADRIA
2000, Singapore.
Maher, M.L., Gu, N., Li, F. (1999). Visualisation and
Object Design in Virtual Architecture Proceedings of
CAADRIA 1999, Sydney, Australia.
Nethra Mettuchetty Ram Mohan (2003). Emerging
Technologies in Architectural Visualization – Implementation
Strategies for Practice. MS Thesis - School of Architecture
Mississippi State. http://sun.library.msstate.
edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-04072003-164447/unrestricted/
nethra_thesis.pdf.
Uddin, M. S. (1999). Digital Architecture. McGraw- Hill
Wilson, J.D. (1998). ModelCity Philadelphia Elevates
GIS to the Next Level. Professional Surveyor, 18(2).
Zaha Hadid nuragic and contemporary art museum in
Cagliari, Italy. http://www.arcspace.com/architects/hadid/
cagliari/cagliari.html.