Digital way to fly around town

Jun 18 2009 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

STOKESLEY architects have adopted an innovative digital technique to help regeneration chiefs map out Tees Valley’s future.

Working with Middlesbrough Council, DKS Architects designed a digital 3-D model of the town which allows users to fly around it.

Based on the well known Google Earth software, the model will allow town planners and developers to test out ideas for regeneration and will help assessment new development opportunities.

The model was showcased at mima as part of Urban Design Week.

Very few cities around the world have been modelled in this way and DKS believes it may be the first time a digital 3-D model has been developed specifically for UK town planners.

Visitors to the exhibition also viewed a virtual fly-through tour of Middlesbrough, screened on the big screen in Centre Square during the day.

Jan Lewis, team leader in Middlesbrough Council’s Urban Policy and Implementation Unit, said: “This project represents a celebration of the great architecture that exists in Middlesbrough and is a new way of working that should transform the way we plan and make decisions.”

Steve Hesmondhalgh, partner at DKS said the technique could revolutionise the future of town planning.

“We’ve been working on this model for a several months now and it’s exciting to see it being used. Over the next few months the plan is that every person who uses Google Earth will be able to enjoy the architecture of Middlesbrough town centre in 3-D.

“At the same time, it is possible that this model will revolutionise the future of planning for towns and cities so it’s great that the public get to see how it works.”

Industry-wide adoption of digital creative techniques goes to the heart of the debate on the future of the creative sector, according to Mark Elliot, director of DigitalCity Business, which is driving the town’s Boho One cluster.

Earlier this week he was quoted as saying that the real pay-off for the digital industries was “not in movies but where digital intersects with other industries”.

Middlesbrough’s Urban Design Week runs until Sunday and coincides with Northern Architecture’s North East Festival of Architecture 2009 - which runs between June 13 and 28.