A CG rendering of the city of the future

The recent development of CG has been remarkable. Movies and games that make full use of CG show creators' images of future cities, architecture, and people's lives through their images. In a virtual world, creators, just like us, plan cities and design architecture, even if it is just a ruin, to depict time and space and express people's present, past, and future lives. Regardless of the story, these detailed images greatly stimulate our imagination, and large-screen CG images draw the viewer into that time and space. The message of CG images, which directly appeal to people's imagination more than written expression, is very strong.

As real-world Architectural Design, we naturally make extensive use of CG as an indispensable tool in designing cities and buildings. The CG we create is naturally premised on real-world cities and buildings, presenting people's living spaces that have existed in the real world for a long time, resisting the Earth's gravity and continuing over time. Perhaps the difference between our CG and that of film and game creators is whether or not they present a free world free from the constraints of gravity and time. In that sense, we can say that more free ideas are expected and required of them. However, they are also fully conscious of gravity and time, and express future cities and buildings as connected to the real world. This is why they overlap with our own images and are so inspiring.

I recently had the opportunity to watch a demonstration of 3D CG for urban and Architectural Design from a major electronics manufacturer. Standing in the center of a hemispherical screen, I watched the CG projected on the screen through 3D glasses. There was no sound, smell, or vibration, but if I turned to the right, I could see the building on my right. When I instructed myself to move forward, I could move forward, and distant buildings came closer. The space felt as if I were walking through the city or inside the building. Of course, the city and the buildings could be freely remodeled. While this 3D CG is still not sophisticated enough to create the illusion of a real world, given the current rate of technological development, it should soon be possible to create 3D CG images that give the illusion of actually being in that world. Urban planners and architects who manipulate this 3D CG world may be able to use the more creative ideas that CG allows to present fascinating future cities, architecture, and people's lives.

I have high hopes that as 3D CG technology continues to develop, more of us will be able to use it as a means of expression to more freely imagine future cities, architecture, and lifestyles, and become active in this field.