Future World Vision ↗︎

Researcher / 3D Designer

Urban Research Software
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

2018-2022




        
Overview with expert commentary. Courtesy ASCE and Experimental Design.
  
Future World Vision is an ongoing initiative of ASCE, America’s main body for the advancement of standards and code in civil engineering. The FWV initiative is an exercise in foresight, preparedness, and strategic vision that orients United States infrastructure well into the future.

In 2018 ASCE hired our team at Experimental Design to build five immersive urban simulations that chart paradigm shifts in engineering, climate responsivity, and urban systems from the present to 2070. We built these simulations in Unity. Each city:

  • maps developments within an extreme climate condition
  • is built from expert insight and internal research
  • is a social space for engagement and review



 
Sped up play-through without audio. Courtesy ASCE and Experimental Design.
The first city we built was the Floating City. This began with a 6-month research and development program. We explored economic models, structural feasability, and ecological design.  

We used a scenario modeling framework to chart multiple factors that may drive urban areas to further advance off-shore in the coming decades.  

The software, which can be downloaded here, is built to encourage expert discussion - like a social forum for engineers and designers.

When the Floating City was first debuted at the ASCE yearly convention in Miami 2018, it led to the initialization of several new infrastructure standards.
 



IMAX trailer, handed off to producers MacGillivray Freeman