Archinect - News

Zaha Hadid Architects create Fornite experience for London with Epic Games

2024-09-24T08:55:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects and Epic Games have collaborated on an in-game experience for the popular Fortnite video game. Titled ‘Re:Imagine London’, the experience sees an island created within Fortnite that players can use to explore and interact with London’s built environment.

Image credit: Epic Games

Using Epic Games’ Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), Re:Imagine London seeks to explore the use of the UEFN for practical applications in architecture and “pool creator talent across industries including architecture, landscape, and interiors.” To build the experience, the team used content provided by Zaha Hadid Architects, AccuCities, and Beyond Creative.

Image credit: Epic Games

“Situated around London’s waterfronts, the project investigates urban intensification and community participation in the creation of walkable, mixed-use, sustainable development, the team says. “The experience facilitates rapid optioneering through an engaging and...

Marywood University creates first-ever Bachelor of Virtual Architecture program

2024-05-16T13:01:00-04:00

Marywood University in Pennsylvania has announced the first-ever undergraduate degree-granting academic program dedicated to training students in virtual architecture. The new Bachelor of Virtual Architecture (BVA) program is tailored to learners interested in careers building immersive environments. Students will learn through a combination of studios and coursework with skills-based outcomes augmented by instruction in the liberal arts, building science, and architectural design.

Image courtesy Marywood University

The school says: "The Virtual Architecture program will prepare students to design immersive architectural environments for films, video games, and other forms of virtual and extended realities. This interdisciplinary degree will share coursework with our two existing, professional degree programs in Architecture and Interior Architecture. Building on synergies with these existing programs, the Virtual Architecture program will specialize in environments, interactions, t...

Francis Kéré designs new virtual museum of stolen artifacts for UNESCO

2023-10-17T16:03:00-04:00

Francis Kéré has been announced as the architect of a new virtual museum of stolen cultural artifacts for UNESCO. The project will exhibit 3D versions of the objects while at the same time elevating the voices and narratives of the global communities from which they were taken.

Renderings released along with its announcement show a large transparent dome with gallery spaces lining a Guggenheim-like spiraling central ramp, inspired by the African baobab tree.

Image courtesy of UNESCO/Kéré Architecture

The 52,000 works displayed were digitally rendered using the Stolen Works of Art database of INTERPOL, the international police organization that tracks the trafficking of looted cultural artifacts globally.

Image courtesy of UNESCO/Kéré Architecture

UNESCO says this will become a "tool to raise awareness on the illicit trafficking and the importance of protecting cultural heritage among the relevant authorities, culture professionals, and the general public, notably young generations...

Habitat 67’s original vision recreated in Unreal Engine by Safdie Architects, Epic Games, and Neoscape

2023-05-17T07:00:00-04:00

Safdie Architects, Epic Games, and the creative agency Neoscape have recreated the original vision for Habitat 67 in virtual reality. Using Epic Games’ powerful game engine Unreal Engine 5, the entire original master plan for the radical early 1960s scheme has been constructed, marking a significant expansion on the realized segment situated in Montreal, Canada.

Video courtesy: Epic Games

The genesis of Habitat 67 stretches back to Moshe Safdie’s master’s thesis at McGill University. At 23 years old, Safdie submitted the idea to the 1967 Montreal World’s Fair, with the goal of creating a pilot for a new type of housing that would not contribute to urban sprawl.

Image credit: Epic Games

“It began with a journey through North America to study housing,” Safdie recalled. “I came to the conclusion that suburbs weren’t feasible in the long term. They consumed too much land, energy, and transportation. If we could reinvent the apartment building to offer the quality...