Skip to main content

Dynamic Architecture: Da Vinci Tower Dubai

By Dubai, Dynamic Architecture

Dubai is possibly the most exciting city in the world at the moment for innovative architecture and the Da Vinci Tower is a leading example. Each floor of the building is independent allowing free movement, which as dynamicarchitecure.net states will allow the building to be constantly in motion changing its shape and therefore will be able to generate electric energy for itself as well as for other buildings.

Forty-eight wind turbines fitted between each rotating floors as well as the solar panels positioned on the roof of the building will produce energy from wind and the sunlight, with no pollution. The total energy produced by this inbuilt ‘powerhouse’ every year will be worth approximately seven million dollars.

The movie below provides a look at the Da Vinci Tower – it kicks in past the 40 second mark:

Each floor will rotate a maximum of one full rotation in 90 minutes and with completion estimated for 2009 due to its ‘factory built construction’ – see 4min 50s into the movie for the visualisations – it is this level of innovation that is making Dubai the city to watch over the next few years.

HDR New York at Night

By HDR, HDR Panorama, Photography

The image above grabbed our attention while searching for HDR City Images. Taken using 3 exposures which are then subsequently merged using Photomatix the photo by Paulo Barcello’s is one of the best we have seen.

HDR is an interesting technique and one that we have been promising to do a tutorial on for a while. The weather in London is improving and with the booklet complete (more on that and availability/pricing next week after the new print run) we are ready to go and capture some shots for a ‘how to’…

It is well worth visting Paulo’s Flickr page to see the full size version of New York at Night.

Crysis Update: Importing from Google 3D Warehouse

By 3D Warehouse, Crysis, Google Earth, SketchUp

A quick update on progress – see our Crysis Thread for more posts and movies – we have a work flow in place to take any model from the Google 3D Warehouse and import it into Crysis. The image above is the Washington National Cathedral – direct from the 3D Warehouse.

It gets around the multiple texture limitation and seems to be working so far – we are currently working on importing the Church from our Churches: Modelling Architecture post.

We are not sure of the legal implications of taking models made for Google Earth and using them in Crysis but the potential for entire city models is intriguing…

3D Laser scanning: Caminha Tower

By Laser Scanning

Laser Scanning can cut down the time taken to survey a site and record sections in high detail – all via a point cloud which essentially captures a 3D view of the scene.

Merging Laser Scans and creating effective fly-throughs has always been a challenge and we personally have never been tempted to jump into Laser Scanning. 3D Total however have placed some impressive results on their YouTube channel, of note if the movie below on the Caminha Tower, Portugal:

See http://www.3dtotal.pt/ and their YouTube Channel for more info and movies.

Close Menu

About Salient

The Castle
Unit 345
2500 Castle Dr
Manhattan, NY

T: +216 (0)40 3629 4753
E: hello@themenectar.com

Archives