I wrote this in 2022 for a copywriting agency. This was for an architect client.

Can Gaming technology help with architecture planning?

Architects that use gaming software have claimed that techniques learned from video games could help planners and the public more easily understand architecture.

Utilising visualisation techniques from the video game industry, such as fly throughs, VR and interactive videos could be the future of making proposals more understandable. This would allow planners and the public to ‘see’ the architecture and visualise how it would look in real life.

Transforming the architectural industry

During a live Dezeen talk in August, Marraum architecture studio’s Adam Laskey commented, “A lot of people cannot understand [architectural] drawings. “

In order to combat this lack of understanding, Marraum decided to use Twinmotion, a visualisation tool, for planning submissions in Cornwall. Creating one-minute fly-throughs of residential extensions has enabled the public to walk around a project and fully understand
how it will look once produced.

He continued, “We make sure our clients can fully walk around their project before we progress past conceptual design and move into planning, so they fully understand what they’re working with”

Twinmotion software is produced by game creators Epic Games, and allows architects to make use of the visualisation technology already used widely in the gaming industry.

Engagement and collaboration

Murray Levinson, partner at architecture practice Squire & Partners, explained at the live talk that his firm uses the software from the very early stages of the design process in order to show how projects will work and be experienced once built. He said, “I’ve always recognised the benefit of modelling and rendering in 3D and trying to get the spatial qualities of any project across to a client or the planning authority.”

He continued, “We can test out the height scale and bulk of those spaces. If you can engage with people through this type of software, it could give everyone more confidence about proposals which might be otherwise difficult to conceptualise in a 2D image”

Sandra Youkhana of architectural design studio You+Pea talks about how some planning consultation events are quite ‘sad’ and how she thinks that gaming technology could help to engage people in more dynamic and inclusive ways.

She says, “We see games as a tool for engagement, for connecting people thinking about how they can become collaborative design environments.”

Ms Youkhana and her partner Luke Pearson teach at the Videogame Urbanism studio, a part of the London based Bartlett School of Architecture.

Playable planning notices

As a part of their studies, students at the Videogame Urbanism Studio are using video game technology to look at ways of creating playable planning notices; planning notices produced using technology that will allow viewers to interact and engage rather than just reading blueprints and planning notices online or on lamp posts.

Mr Pearson stated, “The use of game systems and game engines is something people are becoming much more aware of There’s a whole science behind getting people to engage with things and structures and making a structured play that creates results”.

You can view the live talk on the Dezeen website.

Continue the conversation

Is gaming technology the future of architecture? Will walk/fly-throughs and interactive features mean planning proposals are more exciting and beneficial to architects and the public alike? To continue the conversation, join us on LinkedIn and let us know your
thoughts.