Pioneering digital construction planning
How the municipality of Fällanden communicates its construction projects with digital twins.
Communication is key
At the beginning of 2022, Switzerland had about 2172 municipalities. While spatial planning is omnipresent in larger cities, more rural areas develop at their own pace. On their scale, there is a much more personal relationship with decision-makers in politics and thus a need for clear communication of building projects involving public funds.
Who wanted what?
In the municipality of Fällanden, too, it was necessary to better present the spatial planning of the public area by visual means. For some time, those responsible had already been planning the renovation of the town hall as well as a new meeting place in the centre that would give public life a little more outdoor space. For this purpose, the municipality of Fällanden engaged Suter von Känel Wild AG (SKW), an architecture bureau consisting of 40 experts from various disciplines. From civil engineers and spatial planners to architects and landscape architects, SKW combines all the necessary expertise to lead successful construction projects for new buildings and facilities. If there is one thing professionals know, it is where they need extra competence. That is how Nomoko’s expertise was required by the architectural firm to help visualize the building projects in Fällanden.
How did we do it?
After we were instructed by the architect’s office and provided with flight permission and the best possible starting positions for our drones by the municipality, we started our rotors at the beginning of June 2022 and flew over an area of around 2.9 kilometers with the WingtraOne drone and shot around 5200 high-resolution images from a bird’s eye view. With the data in our pocket, we returned to our offices in Zurich, where the 3D designers set about converting the photos into a digital twin of the municipality. In collaboration with SKW, we also created CAD (Computer Aided Design) models of the planned buildings and renovations that were then implemented into the digital Fällanden of today.
The presentation
By the deadline, all the data had been prepared as planned and the beamers were running hot. The responsible persons of the municipality as well as the representatives of SKW proudly presented the planned constructions. Especially the high-resolution, photo-realistic visuals and the possibility to simulate different light irradiations and weather situations were met with positive feedback not only from those responsible, but also from the residents of Fällanden.
While the immediate results of the project were already a success in themselves, the true value of the digital twin will only be revealed in the future. Where a new, physical 3D model had to be built for each individual construction project in the past, in the future, every construction project can be integrated in the same digital twin.
