Case Studies: Ming Du Plaza
Mixed-use Development:
Nanning, Guanxi Province, China
Lou Pingan, a developer in Nanning, China, needed to show plans for three high rises and a shopping mall to the Governor of Guangxi Province. The governor has sole authority to approve or reject all proposed large-scale development. As two previous proposals had been rejected, it was imperative that the new design and presentation be of the highest standard.
Working closely with two leading Bay Area architecture practices, Woodford Sloan of San Francisco, and TWM architects & planners of San Rafael, CA, Maraizon commenced production of a comprehensive presentation to demonstrate design, massing, and full visual impact. This is a sensitive site, facing a large park that is host to the annual provincial pageant and celebrations.
On receiving design drawings from the architects, Maraizon International developed a complete computer simulation of the development and its surrounds. These served as the basis for a series of renderings and shaded architectural drawings. Next, Maraizon produced a series of animations for inclusion in a video DVD.
John Francis Leo developed the building model, shading, and materials. Steven Chais prepared a series of colored architectural drawings and created the animated characters. “One of our biggest challenges was the sheer size of the computer model,” says John Leo. “Because we wanted to show both closeup detail and the large scale overview of the project in a single take we needed to upgrade to the latest computing power available”.
Information on Nanning, the capital of Guangxi, is not easy to come by. Our client was unable to provide photos of the local site and environs. “To give the correct local character to the building environment, we all pulled together as a team to find all the information we could.” This included extensive Web searches, as well as working with Bay Area people with close ties to China.
Another challenge was timing. The client wanted the project completed in just eight weeks. “We drew on all our skills, accumulated over more than 12 years of specializing in computer simulations, to meet our client's pressing schedule.”
Post-production and DVD authoring was completed by Rick Pepper at Aha!Visual, a Sebastopol company specializing in descriptive animation. Post-production features include advanced lighting and depth of field effects, as well as a matt painting representing the mall interior.
Finally, royalty-free music and credits were added to the menu-driven DVD to complete one of Maraizon's most complex presentations to date.
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