SEEING IS BELIEVING
New cloud-based platform will allow buyers to virtually view homes before they are built
Nowadays, it seems, all new homes and condos are bought pre-construction — based on information taken from brochures, floor plans and price lists.
If you are lucky, you may get to tour a model home or suite, but that is not always an option, and that's the problem.
“To really understand the build environment, you have to visualize it,” says Raza Jafri, founder and CEO of 3D CityScapes, which is developing what it calls the “very first cloud-based streaming platform” in the world to help builders and developers showcase their pre-construction homes in the most photorealistic and impactful way possible.
Visualization takes it even further in that designers now are not only able to offer floor plans and model renderings, but show an entire house virtually and to factor in all the subtle aspects of the home-buying decision. For example, how does layout effect sunlight, and what will the views look like from a 20th floor balcony during the night or day?
Visualization can also allow buyers to experience a variety of options or upgrades — to change out the materials of the property they are viewing (flooring, cabinets, counter top finishes, appliances, furniture) and to preview those changes in real time.
This not only helps tremendously from a sales aspect, it leads to a much more informed buying decision, says Jafri.
It also goes without saying that the pandemic has changed everything — it has accelerated the development of visualization software to the point buyers may not even need to enter a sales office and pick up brochures.
Instead, this platform will allow “for hundreds and even thousands of viewers to interact with the applications they create.” It will be available 24/7 and allow property developers a chance to showcase their property developments around the clock.
Already, the software is getting endorsements from several builders and developers including Arista Homes and Tridel, who see it as a way of reducing foot traffic in the sales office, especially during the pandemic.
“We found 3D CityScapes to have the highest-quality digital interactive environment applications available in the world, and are very excited to partner with them,” says Michael De Gasperis, president and chief executive of Arista Homes and vice-president of the TACC Group. “Take it from somebody with decades of experience: this is the direction the industry is going.”
Pamela Ventresca, chief operating officer of Pace Developments Inc., says “It's been a fantastic experience working with the team at 3D Cityscapes. From the moment I sat down with them I knew instantly that they had something incredibly unique and inventive that my team couldn't pass up … a snapshot into the future of what's to come in the world of real estate.
“Aside from being an unlimited sales and marketing tool, it also plays a key role in the early stages of planning and design. Having access to our own projects on this level and in this magnitude allows us to plan, change, improve and basically clearly see what it is we're building. It gives us the opportunity to make it better before it even exists. What's better than that?”
As for the future, upcoming versions of the software will build on its cloud-based streaming features — Jafri wants to make it accessible and available to anybody with a computer and a good Internet connection.
Among the firm's more ambitious goals is to complete a 1-to-1 scale virtual 4K environment of Toronto.
“We are building a digital twin of the entire world,” says Jafri. “The implication is that we will provide an entirely new way of exploring and visualizing data.”