Dezeen promotion: architecture and design are about to be revolutionised by digital twins ? virtual representations of real-world products, buildings and even entire cities ? according to Anne Asensio, vice president of design experience at Dassault Systèmes.
"We are at the very beginning of a huge change that may transform the way we design," said Asensio, who spoke to Dezeen as part of our Design for Life collaboration with Dassault Systèmes.
"It's a huge revolution for the future and we've only seen the first stage so far."
Digital twins provide "an incredible power"
Digital twins, which are also known as virtual twins, are virtual counterparts to real-world objects or processes.
Existing alongside their real-world siblings, digital twins can be used to represent a physical object or its process and to monitor what is happening in the real version as a testbed to explore the impact of proposed improvements or unexpected changes. According to Asensio, this emerging technology will enable architects and designers to demonstrate the full life cycle of a product, a service or an experience.

It will also, she believes, enable designers to imagine and test new ideas more easily and at an earlier stage than was previously possible.
"This ability to visualise any given element in 3D ? it could be an object, a service, a system or an entire city ? and play with all the physical rules within the conformity of science is an incredible power,&q...