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Building in a Virtual World
Scope Cleaver
MaxMoney Building
Second Life
Cleaver is the first virtual world architect to be included in the Taschen Architecture NOW! books.
Photo: arcspace
Although the tools and building codes are different in Second Life (SL) the architectural process resembles the process in Real Life (RL). The client selects an architect and presents him with a Brief.
Maximilian March, owner of the metaverse company MaxMoney, wanted a showpiece that would turn heads and get people talking.
“I selected Scope Cleaver because he is not only one of the most important architects in Second Life or virtual worlds, he has a unique vision and a story all his own to tell.”
Maximilian March
In the course of the last three years Scope Cleaver has designed and built some of the most amazing structures, establishing him as the starchitect of SL.
Looking at the ensemble of his work and techniques afford us a key to understanding the future possibilities for architecture in virtual worlds.
Photo courtesy: Scope Cleaver
The Bartlett House
Photo: arcspace
The Estonian Embassy
Photo: arcspace
Gallery of the Arts, Princeton University
Cleaver creates flowing spaces and incorporates the play of shadow and light using virtual world tools. Movement, suggested or implied, is a hallmark of many of Cleaver’s buildings.
Cleaver met with me at the Landing Pad, where you teleport in SL, above the waterfall at the MaxMoney Building. Cleaver likes to make the landing point explicit so that people who are already in the sim can see where new arrivals will appear.
Photo: arcspace
The poetic atmosphere of this building, the semi-transparent glass deck, especially when lit at night, and the cables, makes me think of Calatrava’s work in RL.
Photo: arcspace
KK: As the majority of our readers are unfamiliar with SL I would like this article to not only be about the building but also about the architectural process. You were presented with the following brief?
The building needs to be modern and classic at the same time, and have a feeling of "Future Past. I am imagining a lot of glass and steel. There must be a conference room, a place for affiliates to meet, and a stage for live music. We also would like a couple of areas around the sim for relaxing.
SC: More or less yes, but let's just say there was a lot of space for me to interpret.
KK: How does one interpret modern and classic at the same time in SL?
SC: It's definitely modern, even slightly experimental given this medium. The client had already seen my work and did not want something above or more than that... by classic I think what he meant is that he wanted a Scope Cleaver classic. It was basically the glass work at the Bartlett House, one of my first major buildings, that impressed him. The brief was essentially about his describing the company and project in SL.
KK: Did you also discuss budget?
SC: Obviously the order of magnitude in budgets are worlds apart, literally, so I cannot sit down with the client for weeks talking about what he wants and how we make it happen. We have a one to two hour conversation and I listen to his needs. Then we put the main highlights and guidelines in a notecard, following a common understanding.
The landing pad is located in the main public area with the stage for musical events. From here you walk, run or fly, up over the curving ramp to the balcony and the more private conference room.
The panels along the top of the building are lights that, when scripted, can flip over like a deck of cards and orient according to a variable. They could point to a performer or a group of people in a reflexive architecture manner.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
KK: Your cables seem to tie the building to the ground where as in RL cables structurally support the buildings, keeping them above ground. I like this detail emphasizing that we are in a virtual world.
SC: The irony about the cables is that I felt there was a "tension" between the possibility of this element being either supports or cables restraining the building from flying away. Even I am not sure which it should be, I think leaving it ambiguous is the most interesting. An otherwise difficult proposition to consider in Real Life.
KK: The client told me you asked for the color index from their major branding elements so that the structural elements would reinforce the MaxMoney identity?
SC: Yes I wanted to be in theme with his palette. I chose green for instance to reflect the color of money... desaturated it a lot. It is a very unique green in SL for a building. The lighting also has a touch of green in it.
Photo: arcspace
The balcony, is a place for members of the MaxMoney Group to relax. Cleaver kept the floor transparent to see the waterfall below. From the balcony stairs lead to the conference room.
Initially Cleaver was planning for windows on the side but found it looked much better open with a cable lattice.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
KK: The ceiling looks like the belly of a shrimp?
SC: Yes I have done other builds that are shrimp like, or crustacean. I think there is something very interesting about the structural integrity of insects and sea creatures.
Photo: arcspace
KK: Talking about details, does each of your buildings have a detail that is designed for that one building, or do you have a lexicon of details that you use again and again?
SC: Yes both. I try to imbue every project with unique details, but there are some elements that I use often. The long strips of intermittent lights along the build I thought added visual rhythm, when you look at the building's profile it's suggestive of modern music editing. Like a morse code.
Photo: arcspace
Tension cables and pod lights.
Photo: arcspace
Pod lights and supports.
From the landing pad you can also descend to a transparent path under the building that leads to a small café. The path was initially planned to start from the side of the building but Cleaver felt it would have broken the symmetry. This path is designed to integrate with the main structure in the simplest way.
Cleaver made it deliberately long for people to enjoy the waterfall and landscape by Poid Malhovich, before reaching the café. The building’s roof and ceiling are reminiscent of the main building's apex.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
KK: Getting back to textures (materials). Were all the textures for MaxMoney custom made?
SC: Yes. I used very few textures, probably less than 12, all custom made. The glass textures is the same repeated, and tiled to fit. I make most of the textures seemless so that even when it is repeated you are less likely to tell it's being repeated. When appropriate to the project, I also create textures based on photos that I shot and optimize them for SL.
KK: You are also designing furniture?
SC: 90 percent of my work in SL has been commissions, 10 percent retail (furniture and prefabs, things I sell in my store), I am now trying to balance that better, maybe 50/50, as I have more time to focus on that now.
KK: Was it difficult for you to start building in a virtual world?
SC: The adaptation phase was easy for me as the tools in SL are very basic and easy to learn.
In fact there are many features I prefer to use in SL that I can't use in other programs. I am always trying to push the limits using some tricks.
I watched Cleaver building with prims, the basic building block in Second Life.
Photo: arcspace
Roof Design and installation.
Photo: arcspace
Progress backup.
Photo: arcspace
Scaling and marker tools deployed.
Photo: arcspace
Priliminary texture work and glass transparency tests.
KK: It is evident in your work that you are motivated by technique or technology. In RL as soon as technology moves just a little bit, it changes architecture, this must happen even faster in virtual worlds?
SC: That is a really good question, and a tricky one, too easy to say yes. The technology here changes yes, very fast, but you don't need to worry about a million things you would have to worry about in RL. I don't have to worry about the building collapsing. I might have to worry that it gets auto returned:):)
For the terraform Maximilian March hired Poid Mahovlich who has worked with Cleaver on several builds for Princeton University. Poid immediately got the "Future Past" concept and made sure the terraform was at the cusp between abundance and desolation.
Visit arcspaceSL
Princeton University Gallery arcspace feature
Scope Cleaver site
Scope Cleaver arcspace features
Architecture NOW! 6 includes Cleaver's Princeton University Gallery of the Arts
Architecture NOW! 6
By Philip Jodidio
Publisher: Taschen
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May 11, 2009