The project involves the construction of a new 380,000 square foot 7 storey building, the renovation of the historic Fort Harrison Hotel, and the construction of a 5000-seat theatre – all completed in the Mediterranean Revival style. When completed the complex, designed by architects HOK Tampa, will form the Church of Scientology’s new Ministerial and Pastoral Counselling Center in Florida, part of a phased expansion to expand counselling and training activities.

“With RenderDrive there are no surprises when the finished project is inspected. The client has already seen it through the visualizations we create with RenderDrive,” said Matthew Pearse, head of the Visualization Department of the Church of Scientology in-house planning office in Clearwater. “We’ve adopted a ‘what you see is what you get’ approach and everyone including the contractors and designers use renderings and models as benchmarks for their work. If it doesn’t look like the visualization then it shouldn’t be done that way.”

“In the architectural industry, near enough is not good enough and decisions based on visualization represent millions of dollars in the field,” said Craig Wareham, Director of Marketing at ART. “ART delivers solutions that generate image quality good enough to be absolutely confident of how the finished construction will look.”

There are 13 staff in the planning group, three of whom are involved in 3D work. “We use RenderDrive for our interior and exterior work,” says Pearse. “I went looking for a 3D rendering solution that would show materials and surfaces and how they interact with light in their natural form. I wanted something that would show glass and shiny surfaces properly – and I wanted something fast. RenderDrive solves all these issues, and where other renderers go to pieces RenderDrive goes to work and gets the job done.”

Pearse was impressed by RenderDrive’s physically-based approach to the rendering calculation and by the natural results it created. “Textures look great, shadows fall where they are supposed to and do not pixelate, scenes look sharp and accurate,” comments Pearse. “I know that RenderDrive will deliver the right result – so I am able to concentrate more on the mood of the space. With RenderDrive, I am able to accurately portray the characteristics and mood of a building, and both designer and client are thrilled with the results.”

The project is currently under construction with the shell and core due to be finished in the next four months, and the interiors to be completed by March 2004.