Ways of experiencing unbuilt architecture

Late last year, we had the opportunity to take on an additional room adjacent to our studio space here in Hathersage. While we didn’t have any immediate need for it, we thought the opportunity was too good to miss, so we snapped it up. Since then we’ve been slowly occupying the space and working out how to make it work for us.

One thing we wanted to investigate was how we could use the space to help our clients and others understand our proposals differently and better than using traditional drawings alone. I’ve always been enthusiastic about the latest technology, and the practice tries to experiment with new ways of using technology to deliver the best outcomes for our clients. We have invested in a virtual reality system which we can use to immerse clients into the schemes we design for them. We have also installed some 3D printers, which we can use to print physical models as part of the design development process. To support these tools, we’ve invested in some computer hardware, and we aim to model all of our schemes in 3D and use real-time rendering technology to iterate photorealistic visuals rapidly.

We’ll go into more detail about how we’re using these technologies over the coming months, but for the time being, the photos below give a little flavour…