Scottish architectural visualiser Alan Davidson, who pioneered the use of computers to create realistic digital images of buildings, has died aged 58.
Davidson founded London visualisation studio Hayes Davidson in 1989, making it the first company dedicated to producing computer-generated imagery for the architecture industry.
Alan Hayes Davidson, an early pioneer of digital visualisations, has died aged 58
He later pioneered the production of verified images ? accurate digital representations of proposed structures set in real photographs that are created using survey data combined with realistic representations of the building's material and light-reflecting qualities.
Verified images ? so called because they are verified by the visualisation studio as being accurate ? became a vital way for architects to explain to both planners and the public what their creations would look like when built. They can also be used as evidence if a proposed building is subjected to a public enquiry.
Davidson created visualisations of Foster and Partners' Gherkin.
Davidson studied architecture in Edinburgh and moved to London in 1986, where he worked for Richard Rogers Partnership (now Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) before starting his visualisation firm to pursue his interest in the emerging field of computer modelling, which at that time was used only by the advertising and movie industries.
Architectural imagery at that time was produced manually by individual artists working in pen an...