Do you ever flip through an IKEA catalogue and wonder how it’s possible for every impeccably designed room to exist? Part of the reason is because it’s IKEA, and duh, most IKEA furniture looks nice. The other reason why it looks so perfect is, to be frank, because it’s not real. In fact, most of what one might find in a catalogue is completely computer generated, as in, not physically there. In a new digital recreation of Jade Signature, a 57-story beachfront tower designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the structure is fully realized in all its CG glory—before construction on the project has even completed (though it’s due for completion in 2017). Except in this particular digital recreation, it’s in 360 degrees.
The 360-degree tour is viewable either in a browser, or on a mobile VR platform. You can spin around the spaces, and warp to different vantage points both in and outside of the tower. Inside, one can see the meticulous interior detail designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon. The 360-degree digital tour was created in collaboration with Rochon, creative agency DBOX, and developers Fortune International Group.
Rather than designing yet another glass tower, Herzog & de Meuron told Design Boom their reasoning for opting for a structural focus in building the tower. “The project uses structure in the most basic way, a structure that you have anyway, and turns it into something sculptural,” they explained. “This sculptural effect is not decorative; it comes from a combination of desired views and necessary visual protection. It is almost like an alphabet that we developed for the building: which wall can do what, which slab can do what, which column can do what. The structure is the architecture.”
You can view the virtual tour of the Jade Signature tour here.
