larchitizer: Context Models

To prove myself worthy of internship this past summer, I was given an opportunity to work on a pro-bono project a local architecture firm was involved in, the Woodburn Elementary closing and ultimate Mileground Consolidated School. I was tasked in created a 3d model of the Woodburn community in Morgantown, spanning several city blocks. Not only had I never made a model that big, I wasn't even sure it was possible. I soon proved myself wrong.

The real challenge to this assignment was the terrain. The school is situated on the top of a large hill and from past experience, I knew modeling roadways or sidewalks, or anything at that, on a slope was pretty damn frustrating and pain staking. So I was given a week or so and on my first meeting, I was unable to remedy the problems of modeling. My roadways had huge crevices and giant spikes in them anywhere there was an incongruity in the contours. After 5-6 different attempts at solutions, I finally decided to start over, and came up with a technique that I feel like is pretty efficient and streamlined.

Since then, I have used this technique in every project to create large neighborhood context models for inventory analysis, and for context in renderings. I feel like context is extremely important in design and so having the ability to accurately portray correlating characteristics in site is almost if not more important than the design itself. In this post, I have included several examples of my neighborhood context models. If anyone would likes this stuff, I am always willing to post tutorials.

I ordered them in chronological order of creation, so you can see my improvements of the method, and stylization building. Oh, and as for the internship, they loved this first model I made, and they brought me on board for a paid internship and part-time employment this past semester. Enjoy and comments are always welcome!