Developers routinely use computer images of buildings not yet constructed to sell off plans. Emma Cullinan talks to two firms about how to create whole cities on a desktop
TIME was when architecture was even more of a mystery than it is now. To envisage what a building would look like you had to understand plan drawings presented by an architect - or at least pretend to.
Gradually, though, 3D computer images of proposed buildings are becoming the norm. Planning authorities increasingly expect them, those who buy property off plans will be given an image of the finished building, and competition entries from architects are often virtual realities of their proposed schemes.
"Once one firm decides to present a project in a sophisticated way, it ups the ante for everyone else," says David Murphy of Modelworks, which specialises in architectural models and computer images. "For instance, because large developers are in competition with each other they have to keep up with the technology. The buying public will visit more than one marketing suite in a day and they will be influenced by the packaging." Developers will often pay €30,000 to €40,000 for this, although prices start at around €2,000 for a simple image.
Influences outside the building industry have raised awareness too. "People have an expectation built up from what they've seen on television," says Hugh Chaloner, director atThe Farm, a television and film company that moved into architectural presentations two years ago.
"People will be watching a bog-roll advert on television and wonder why something such as a building - the most expensive thing that they will ever buy - won't get the same treatment," says Niall O'hOisin, head of graphics at The Farm.
Many firms will have some sort of computer software, such as Autocad, which can take the slog out of heavy drawing programmes, and the Sketchup package, which turns 2D images into 3D and allows walk-throughs and fly-throughs, to get a perspective on the building from different levels.
This not only results in a realistic image which can be shown to interested parties, it also works as a design tool, helping architects to get a feel for how the building will work. "Sketchup is intuitive and quick and allows designers to do what they used to do with a pencil," says David.
With many architectural firms having their own computer software, companies such as The Farm and Modelworks are forever advancing to stay ahead. "It pushes us to increase standards all the time," says David, who qualified as an architect after having studied at UCD alongside members of Group 9. "It's very good for us and stops us being complacent."
While some firms have advanced systems with the same capabilities as Modelworks "We are more quick and efficient because we use them every day," says David. Where architectural firms have special facilities, such as Scott Tallon Walker, Modelworks often works alongside them.
The Farm brings film and television experience to the building world: "With an architect's walk-through you might have a camera going down a corridor forever - which is boring. We will cut through that," says Niall. In a recent presentation they did on the Trinity College site in Dublin, director Hugh Chaloner shot footage of students at work to cut into the film. "While architects might just be concerned with the architecture we are concerned with the feel of the place and will keep things moving," says Niall.
His ilk keeps a keen eye on progress in the industry by "reading geeky magazines" and spotting innovations when watching movies. "Every film that comes out has a new trick and then people will realise what can be done," says Niall.
"The way they built New York in the last King Kong movie meant people knew that it could now be constructed that way. In Lord of the Rings, they used software called Massive in the crowd scenes [people were in more realistic 3D]. Shortly after that there was a Harp ad with about 200,000 people in it. "Citroen also did an advert where a car was skating on ice and they way the landscape looked was amazing - after that you'd see similar landscapes in other adverts."
Better landscaping software has improved the look of plants and trees in architectural presentations too, says Niall. "Trees used to be flat and building a 3D tree was tricky - now you can specify any tree you like."
Inside buildings, the biggest recent innovation has been in lighting - which is far more realistic. "That was always a problem," says David, "because everything is going to be affected by the lighting."
He too has a "great team of computer heads who love doing this work and pushing the boundaries and keeping track of what's new". His staff come from a variety of backgrounds - architecture, film and modelling - but at interview they all have to prove an enthusiasm for architecture, as that element can't be taught, he says.
Tracking software has improved too, says Niall. "You used to have to cut out the moving image and spend a lot of time stopping the rest of the image sliding around in relationship to its movement." Now the company can simulate helicopter rides over a site without all of the buildings shifting around. The Farm recently produced an advert for the RTÉ Guide in which someone walks through the pages of the magazine. "That type of 3D tracking used to put the fear of God into me," says Niall. There has also been an improvement in the way it's possible to depict "people" walking around a building. There's room for improvement, though, says Niall: "You wouldn't want to get too close to the people because they don't look very real".
Now that we live in a era where cameras can lie, are there temptations to pretty up the pictures a bit and do the edges get blurred between the architect and graphic designer? If there are unresolved elements missing in the design, would the computer designer not be tempted to put them in?
While Hugh quips that they can add in a Luas stop near a scheme for a fee, both companies say that they aren't tempted to tweak designs even though the information they get given can vary from pictures "on the back of a cigarette box", says Niall, "to the full whack from in-house 3D guys".
"Once I was given a video of a basic model and I wondered, 'Shall I put in windows or perhaps a lobby on the ground floor?' but in the end I just left it blank," says Niall. "Another image was so vague that you couldn't really tell if the balcony was on the first or second floor. But other clients will specify everything."
"We absolutely do not adapt designs but clients do use our architectural experience and background," says David, whose projects include the U2 Tower by Burdon Craig Dunne Henry; The Gaiety Centre by A&D Wejchert; and the National Conferecne Centre by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates.
For the recent Wexford civic offices competition, Modelworks produced various designs for a firm whose partners commented on the images and adapted the design as they went along.
As designers know, it is easy to criticise something, and get it changed, than it is to develop something from scratch.
"We develop the design from an image and then the architect will mark up the images we produce," says David. "If a practice has 12 projects on the go they won't have time to draw in advance and, anyway, no one comes up with the design of the erected building from the start."
To achieve accuracy, his practice follows a strict methodology in forming a computer image. "You have to be accurate and prove to be accurate," says David who produces images for planning applications, and appeals right through to presentation of evidence to oral hearings.
"If you were cross examined you would have to be able to explain the whole process otherwise your work can be discredited."
While computer images are a newer way of representing architecture, the old methods will continue.
At a recent talk given by Niall McCullough of McCullough Mulvin architects you could see this in practice: computer images were shown alongside sketch drawings,models, and plan and elevation line drawings.
And there will always be a place for beautiful fat felt-tip concept sketches.
