Another high quality housing model for national house builder.
Taylor Wimpey, one of the largest home builders in the UK, have been regular clients of ours for over a decade and this project was one of three sales models we’ve made for them in the last eight months. At 2.2m long x 1.7m wide it’s an extremely large model so they had to allow plenty of room for it in their sales office, as you can see in one of the pics above. For big developments like this, 1:250 scale is an ideal choice because it allows us to show a good level of detail without the model base becoming too big to be practical. This was an especially challenging project because, apart from having over 350 units, it was also a steeply sloping site which meant we had to accurately model all the levels and contours, including steps, embankments and retaining walls in virtually all the gardens.
Accurate topographical model for public consultation.
This 2.5m x 2.5m model was commissioned as part of a public consultation process for a proposed development just off the M1. Comprising 6 A0 sized sections, the purpose of the model was to demonstrate how high embankments and landscaping around the site would screen it from surrounding villages. For this reason it was important that the proposed on-site levels and surrounding topography were all accurately recreated. The buildings are only shown as massing blocks due to the small scale (1:1250). Each metre is represented by just 0.8mm, so that the 16 metre high commercial buildings shown on the model are only approx. 13mm high.
With remote controlled illumination of water.
This simple but eye catching model was commissioned to illustrate the size and position of two proposed tidal lagoons in the Bristol Channel. The lagoons are designed to generate renewable energy by harnessing the rise and fall of the tides in an area that has the second highest tidal range in the world. The topography is represented as a stylized contour map (with exaggerated vertical scale) laser-cut from white acrylic sheet. The water is shown as blue acrylic with LED edge-lighting to add visual interest. The LEDs can be set to varying brightness and colour using a hand held remote control (visible on the front edge of the model in the main pic above).
David Cameron views two of our models
A few days after completing these two white styled models we were surprised (and pleased) to discover they had been the focal point for a presentation to David Cameron about the Swansea Lagoons tidal energy project (apparently they couldn’t tell us beforehand for security reasons). The models are both at 1:1000 scale and show two different areas of the lagoon structure. The largest model shows the leisure facilities where the lagoon wall joins the mainland whilst the small model shows where the turbines generate electricity from the twice daily rise and fall of the tide (the Bristol Channel has the second highest tidal range in the world). If you click on the images to enlarge them you’ll see that even at this small scale (1mm represents 1 metre) we can show a high level of detail.
Contoured model with interactive back projection
We designed and built this topographical model for display at a Royal Academy of Engineering exhibition. The model had to incorporate an acrylic “sea level” panel suitable for back-projection of computer modelled animations showing currents, tidal flows, sediment deposits, etc. It was a technically demanding project because we had to make sure the back projected animation fitted perfectly within the outline of the coast. The vertical scale was exaggerated to accentuate the distinctive character of the South Wales Valleys.
