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San Francisco Digital Model
San Francisco is a city of very rich physical context, defined by topography, climate, architecture, and infrastructure. With over 20 ongoing projects in the Bay Area, SOM San Francisco sought to better understand and analyze this complex environment, and began to construct a three-dimensional digital model of the City of San Francisco in the summer of 2005. “We needed a tool as dynamic and organic as the city itself, and we needed the capacity to quickly understand the aesthetic and ecological impact of growth and change,” said Design Partner Craig Hartman.
The Digital Model combines information traditionally found on maps and diagrams with the form of the City’s buildings and streets. Although digital models are relatively commonplace today, SOM’s model is the City’s most precise three-dimensional database. “The digital model has become an invaluable tool for our design studies,” Hartman said, “as well as a collaborative resource for city agencies, the media, universities and others.” To date, the City of San Francisco has contracted to use SOM’s Digital Model to analyze the city and determine appropriate policies for the built environment.
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