Artful Impression on Architecture

Here are just a few examples of how wysiwyg is being used by architects to demonstrate to cities, governments, committees, towns and project teams by previsualization the impact and potential for their projects - and winning the day!.

The rendering, left, was designed in wysiwyg by Dani Latorre, 3D Design Manager at Stonex S.A. out of Madrid, Spain. The building is called Torre Espacio, meaning "Space Tower" and can be seen in the photo on the right. It is one of four skyscrapers to be erected in the antique Real Madrid football club training stadium. The four buildings will be the tallest buildings in Europe and Torre Espacio is the first to be built.

The project showcases the fact that wysiwyg can be used for architectural applications, in addition to lighting live entertainment. Stonex is currently in the bidding process for the project, but there is existing competition. Their hope is that the wysiwyg 3D design helps.

Latorre explains, "I imported the building from Sketchup, but needed only the border edges, so I broke the surfaces into lines and began working. As we needed to light the building from indoors, I had to make the 57 flats separately. Notice that the flats are different between them because of the spiral form of the building."

The results speak for themselves - the design is stunning. The decision on the design firm is to be made . It was supposed to be decided at the beginning of this year. I have sent Dani the question if they got it.

Previsualization & renderings turning point for new multipurpose concert hall

"wysiwyg got this job," says Mikael Berglund, lighting design consultant for Gothenburg-based Akustikon Consultants, who recently landed the contract for the new multi-purpose concert hall in Rezekne, Latvia. The Concert hall will seat 1000 and has a capacity for a standing audience of 3000.

Architect Uldis Balodis was hired for the construction of the hall in early 2009. Akusticon was one of several companies bidding for the interior acoustics and lighting design of the space.

Akustikon started in 1984 as a consulting company specializing in acoustics, vibration and AV engineering. During 2009 Akustikon became a part of Norconsult AB.While most assignments are prestigious concert halls and theatres, they offer consulting in the entire field of acoustics. To include lighting in the proposal, Akustikon enlisted the consulting services of Mikael Berglund. Mikael has a 30-year career in lighting design for theatre, concert tours and architecture from around the world.

The team visited the Rezeckne City Commission to explain their design for the acoustics and lighting of the hall. The acoustics were somewhat straightforward and the commission understood its purposes and how it would be appropriate for the variety of events in the hall.

When it came to lighting, however, the commission did not fully grasp the concept that the same lighting rig could make such a drastic look and feel of the hall simply by adjusting colours and levels. "No," said Berglund, "You don't need to change fixtures at all. With this recommendation you can get a completely new design for all your needs quite easily." He decided it was best to show them.

Berglund used wysiwyg to design approximately 30 different looks for several different occasions - from a ballet or rock concert to a corporate event, to visually illustrate how lighting alone could achieve such results. The commission was convinced and they signed the contract with Akustikon.

Construction is due to commence in Fall 2009 with expected completion in about one year.

"There is no doubt that wysiwyg was the turning point for this job," says Berglund, "If you don't fully understand the dynamics of lighting, it's quite hard to visualize how certain changes can completely alter the look and mood of a space. wysiwyg allowed me to show them the final result, before construction ever began. I think they were more convinced than ever that this venue will serve all purposes as envisioned."

Bizzaro - yet another use of wysiwyg

Lighting Designer and System Consultant Tony Hansen of Techni-Lux in Orlando, Florida created an electrifying lighting scheme for the thrill ride using wysiwyg and a CSP video to prove the concept and help illustrate the animation possibilities. Techni-Lux was approached for the project based on recommendations on their expertise in themed attractions. Hansen says, "wysiwyg was the tool we used to help demonstrate the ability of our design concept and ultimately gain the trust of the client that our concepts were feasible in their environment and requirements."

The ride is themed around the DC Comics character Bizarro, best known as a strange Superman-like creature from a parallel Earth known as Htrae where daily life is the exact opposite of Earth. Htrae's superhero, Bizarro, possesses traits and powers the opposite of Superman, such as freeze vision, heat breath, and x-ray hearing. Six Flags ride designers not only wanted to design an exciting coaster, but also wanted to take travellers through Bizarro's world.

The coaster is floorless, giving riders the sensation of flying as their feet dangle above the track. The three minute and fifteen second adventure takes riders through a 146-foot climb and speeds up to 61miles-per-hour through Bizarro's freeze vision "cool zone." The rush continues through seven loops - including 114-foot vertical and 96-foot dive loops - blast past bursts of Bizarro's fire breath and race by bizarre scenes and illusions. The mind-boggling 3985-foot twisting journey of storytelling and high-tech elements ends by sending riders head first into a spiked-shaped Auger of Doom, set inside interlocking corkscrews. Throughout the entire journey, riders experience the adrenaline rush with special effect lighting and heart-pounding, on-board audio taking them to a whole new level of imagination. This included an "un-Earthly" tunnel created using 105 Pulsar Chromastrip X3TC, designed by Hansen.

The project required the use of high-powered LEDs to be visible in full sunlight and still be durable enough to withstand the constant vibration caused by the coaster train passing at over 60mph every few minutes. The lighting concept took quite a bit of design and testing to convince the client that LED technology was up to the requirements for daylight viewing. Once the project was approved, all of the pre-programming was done on ShowCAD Artist using the wysiwyg plug-in to previsualize the animations and coordinate the sequence timings. Hansen concludes, "As they say 'A picture is truly worth a thousand words' and an animation is worth a job."

This is just another one of the variety of jobs that can be accomplished, and won, using wysiwyg.