Centre of the Cell is on a mission to become self-sustaining, which they believe they can achieve with the addition of The Neuron Pod – a spectacular new visitor centre modeled on a nerve cell. This remarkable structure is being penned by Will Alsop and All Design; creators of some of the world’s most daring architecture. We have worked on virtual reality visualisations of All Design’s architecture before, but this is the first time that we have been able to showcase our collaborations. The Draw & Code VR artists are always thrilled to get involved with All Design; architecture that is this forward-thinking deserves to be represented by cutting edge technology.
For the Neuron Pod virtual reality experience we used the Samsung Gear VR to show visitors around. We went with the Samsung due to it being wireless and portable; the event was spread across multiple locations, so we couldn’t be tethered to a desktop computer as we usually are with an Oculus Rift unit.
Virtual reality turned out to be a big hit as everybody from architects who worked on the project right through to the University’s top brass were able to walk around the new building. With £900,000 still needed to bring the Neuron Pod to life, virtual reality is the ideal tool for expressing their vision and communicating what the building will look and feel like.
For us it was great to see our virtual reality model getting such a great reaction. On arrival it felt surreal to finally visit the centre after spending so much time in VR walking around it; even the neighbouring streets were already familiar to us! Maybe next time we visit it will be to see a spectacular new Neuron Pod building…