Hobs studio has created a detailed and to-scale animation to show the construction of two new buildings for Oxford University over time. Oxford University were creating two new buildings on their campus. The construction would be near existing buildings and several main roads. Mace is an international consultancy and construction company, offering services across the full property and infrastructure lifecycle. They were at the second stage of bidding to be main the main contractor for these two buildings.

As part of their proposals, Mace wanted to show how their build solution would be efficient, safe and have minimal impact on neighbours. Using the actual building design files, Hobs Studio created a detailed and to-scale Animation to show the construction of the new buildings over time. This 4D animation sequence was built from scratch by accurately modelling the building in a 3D computer model then bringing it to life to show all elements of the build. As they’ve been creating projects for 10 years, the multi-discipline team creating the animation also understand the nuances and tolerances of 3D printing. This meant the 3D computer model was created with both outputs in mind.

The Animation team then finessed one copy for the animation sequence and another copy was split into sections and prepared for 3D printing. The 3D printed version of the time-line would consist of a base model of the area and existing buildings. A series of plugs would slot into this base model to show the different phases; the existing car-park, replaced by the cranes and stages of build, and finally the finished buildings. Both Mace and Oxford Universtity absolutely loved the animation and 3D printed model. Most importantly, Mace won the bid for the work, as they successfully demonstrated their plans.

One person on the project team commented "The animation gave a great overview of the project and enabled small details to be seen at each stage, including the two buildings been built at the same time. Matching this to a physical 3D model allowed for interaction with the buildings and also helped answer questions resulting from the animation sequence.”