The way we see the world, and imagine alternative versions of the future, is changing. As we witness transformations in environment, climate, culture and society, it is becoming increasingly apparent that such transformations demand new ways of imagining the future of the built environment. Owing to the emerging technologies of real-time visualisation and virtual reality (VR), just how these transformations will be imagined, created, communicated, and realised, is a topic that is drawing continued attention and excitement.  

 

Whether in the form of digital twins, massive open worlds, or immersive 3D renders, real-time visualisations are enabling architects, engineers and designers to communicate projects to stakeholders, investors and wider publics in potentially revolutionary ways. 

 

And two software platforms from Epic Games are leading the charge: Unreal Engine, known globally for powering many of the world’s leading video games, delivers cutting-edge visuals, interactive experiences, and immersive virtual worlds. Leaders in the built environment sector are using this platform to translate their visions into powerful story-telling tools. Twinmotion, on the other hand, has an easy-to-use interface that enables users at all levels to create high-quality 3D images in real-time, designed to enable wide industry adoption, rather than aiming principally at architectural visualisation specialists. Both platforms speak to each other as well as communicating and interfacing with the other creative pipeline software found in the architect’s tool box. 

 

Build: Architecture 2021 will bring together software developers from within Epic Games to appear alongside leading industry experts from Zaha Hadid Architects, HOK, Foster + Partners and more, to showcase how the innovative potential of real-time visualisation works in practice. The two-hour programme of events will run twice, to accommodate a global online audience (tune in at either 13:00 or 17:00 GMT), with each programme split into three themes:

 

·      Design storytelling and Twinmotion 

·      Innovative projects and Unreal Engine 

·      Digital twins and colossal open worlds

 

As well as talks and presentations, there will also be a selection of virtual ‘Dev Lounges’, where attendees can spend time with industry experts, designers and presenters, and have the opportunity to ask questions about current and future uses. 

 

 

The New York-based architecture firm show how Twinmotion allowed its design teams to collaborate with clients in real-time digital environments in a healthcare project at Mercy Hospital, Phoenix.

 

Using both Twinmotion and Unreal Engine, architects at Zaha Hadid explain how the modular building blocks of a building in Honduras were aligned to computational design parameters, allowing practitioners to work with their designs in new ways. 

 

HOK will show how it harnessed real-time digital twins and cloud-based storage to articulate, and document, how interventions in a heritage project (Canadian Parliamentary Precinct) would manifest, allowing for trusted decision making. 

 

Danish studio BIG will showcase its masterplan for Cloud Valley, a new centre for future technologies in Chonqing, China, in which an ‘artifical intelligence of things’ is integrated alongside robotics, networks, and big data. 

 

Singapore-based technology and design consultancy Vouse show how Unreal Engine allowed its team to visualise operations on a real-time digital twin to advise on operations at Changi Airport. 

 

Creative agency PureBlink explains how an interactive sales tool for a new development allowed potential buyers to be brought into the masterplan, and better understand the vision.