In previous weeks, we’ve published an eco-friendly loft conversion (designed by Zach+Zünd), and also given some insight into our process from old floor plans to models. This week, we’re going to show how models make money.
As Inman readers know well, there’s a lot of interest in how to move beyond legacy media formats in online real estate. Text descriptions can be search engine optimized, and photographs can provide aesthetically pleasing images, but both are static formats invented for the printed page: dead, dried-out data.
Some companies are at the forefront of new real estate technology. To declare my bias — I work with one of them, Archilogic. We are deeply interested in — and grateful for — what other companies do because they’re helping to introduce what amounts to a new media format.
Matterport is well-known for its panoramic camera that can produce stunning photospheres of a room. Floored also pushes the envelope of high-resolution in online 3-D, with its meticulously handcrafted WebGL models. All three companies are working hard on different aspects of how to represent real estate in virtual space.
Camera-based approaches require a visit to an existing structure. Custom-made 3-D models can present photo-realistic spaces that are not yet built, but they require significant lead time and skilled 3-D designers. Both techniques are useful and have their applications in the real estate marketplace. We analyzed this and focused on how to produce the best possible models from legacy data, such as floor plans alone, intelligently.
At Archilogic, we also see major potential in interactivity. With real 3-D, unlike video tours, users should be able to tour an apartment in any way they wish, directly within a property portal. Furthermore, unlike photo-bubbles, a 3-D model should allow customers to interact with the space by moving or replacing furniture and redesigning the interior to reflect their taste and style. That’s what Archilogic has built its engine around. These models aren’t meant for looks, they’re meant for engagement.
Archilogic is a Swiss Internet startup that specializes in intelligently generated 3-D interior models. We’re working together to see how our technical insights can help change the way that real estate is bought, sold and understood.