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.

Of course, we, who work in real-world Architectural Design, also make extensive use of CG as an indispensable tool in designing cities and architecture. The CG we create is naturally premised on real-world cities and architecture, and presents people's living spaces that have existed in the real world for a long time against the gravity of the Earth and are continuous in time. The difference between CG created by movie and game creators is whether or not they have 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 architecture as something that is connected to the real world. That is why they overlap with the images we have and are very stimulating to us.

I had a chance to see a demonstration of 3D CG for urban and Architectural Design of a major electronics manufacturer. You stand in the center of a hemispherical screen and look at the CG projected on the screen through 3D glasses. There is no sound, smell, or vibration, but if you turn to the right, you can see the building on the right, and if you give the command to move forward, you can move forward and the distant building will come closer. There is a space there that makes you feel as if you are walking through the city or inside the building. Of course, you can freely remodel the city and the building. This 3D CG is not yet sophisticated enough to give us the illusion of the real world, but with the current speed of technological development, it should be possible to realize 3D CG images that make us feel as if we are actually in that world. And urban planners and architects who control this 3D CG world may present attractive future cities, architecture, and people's lives with more free ideas that only CG can provide.

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.