In 2021, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati’s proposal to create sustainable alternatives for urban heating networks was selected as one of four winners of the global Helsinki Energy Challenge. The project entitled Hot Heart proposed “island-like, floating seawater reservoirs to heat the city of Helsinki in a green way”. Using Twinmotion, Epic Games’ real-time visualization platform for the architecture industry to design the intervention, the large scale infrastructural project needed a digital representation tool to possibly put scale into perspective, offer a real immersive experience to engage the client, and exhibit instant changes related to natural factors such as daylight. Come SpaceForm, a data-driven virtual presentation and design tool. Created to facilitate remote cooperation, the technology allows clients or stakeholders to be more immersed in the story of the design.
Building a new way to collaborate more effectively, SpaceForm is a smart platform that connects remote projects and teams together to explore designs in the same virtual space, in VR, desktop, or mobile, to build compelling 3D, real-time presentations, imported from Rhino 3D, Revit or Sketchup. In fact, through this tool, real-time design reviews and discussions related to costs, materials, performance, and sustainability are made easier. CRA has been using the platform throughout the initial design phases of the Hot Heart project, the largest infrastructural facility of its kind, to help decarbonize the city's heating network and vision to improve the urban environment through innovative climate remediation strategies.
