Please join the Design Technology Knowledge Community with this February event.

Virtual City Models (VCMs) are familiar to us through computer games such as Grand Theft Auto. How is this entertainment tech being put to work as a type of digital twin for architects, planners, and municipalities? Having a bespoke VCM of a city like SF to insert proposed design projects into has been a very costly endeavor, so it has long remained the competitive advantage of only a few prominent design firms. What if every designer and planner had easy access to VCMs, democratizing access to this valuable tool? What are the virtual model-making benefits and shortcomings of Unity and Unreal software platforms? How interactive can the models be? What type of data is most valuable to embed in the models? What type of data is most valuable to extract from the models? Who is in the vanguard and what product options already exist?

Presenters

Cassidy Cheang
Project Manager, Baran Studio Architecture

Mike Hoppe
Creative Director, Geopogo

Mike Hoppe is a tech inventor and urban design visionary. As Creative Director of Geopogo, Mike is exploring the potential and mechanics of Virtual City Models. Mike has already built models of London, Cape Town, New York City, Los Angeles, Detroit/Windsor, Philadelphia, Denver, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco.

Moderator

Dave Alpert, FAIA
CEO, GeoPogo

Dave is an award-winning architect now leading the development of Geopogo’s AR Instantly software for design and construction.  In his career as an architect, Dave worked on project design teams for major commercial and institutional buildings in the Bay Area for the local offices of SOM, Gensler, and other firms. After earning an MBA mid-career, he worked on the owner’s side coaching design and construction teams on $10 billion of projects around the country for Kaiser Permanente. Dave leads the monthly meetings for the AIASF Design Tech Knowledge Community.