3D Map
Papamoa Hills is one of the most beloved cultural parks in the Western Bay of Plenty. Popular with both fitness enthusiasts who run and hike the hills, and with history and cultural buffs wanting to come and explore the various Pa sites found around the park. Culturally, Papamoa Hills is home to more than 10 Pa sites that were inhabited by a number of Iwi and Hapu of it’s history.
To further communicate the size, shape and locations of the various Pa sites to visitors, we created a 3D map at the parks entrance where visitors can explore what the park has to offer before heading off on foot to see the sites in person.
Client
Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Year
2022-2023
The Concept
Located right at the main entrance of Papamoa Hills, just as you pass through the Tomokanga, the 3D map fits within a larger context of “ creation”. Which is achieved through symbolic motifs in the tomokanga, granite path way and planting.
Enjoying the pride of place at the centre of the takarangi motif to communicate how important Papamoa Hills is to Maoridom in the region.
The Design
Using lidar data, we created a digital 3D render of the topography of the cultural park, marking out all of the tracks and key archaeological sites.
With this model completed, we were then able to explore the various material options we had available to us. The selection of the production material then informed us as to whether the render was doing to be used for milling out moulds, 3D printing directly from the files or routering from a range of potential materials.
After a lot of experimentation and prototyping, we decided to create the final product through 3D printing. The overall map was then split out into 60+ smaller sections, which were secured together on a a custom built mounting platform to create the final topographic form.
To complete the effect, we then needed the birds-eye view to be added ontop of the completed topographic profile. To achieve this I collected dozens of smaller satellite images of the cultural park, and in photoshopped combined them all together into one larger, highly detailed birds-eye view. I was able to achieve a very high level of detail, to where you can count the individual sheep in the paddocks. The image was then printed and applied using some nifty tricks from the production team.
We created the plinth out of granite, which was a nod to the stone quarry that had been running out of the the back of Papamoa Hills since the 1800’s. The plinth was decorated with the names of the various Pa found around the park, and a poutama design that was filled with the topographic lines of the cultural park.
* Note: These renders show a bronze extrusion, which was the initial concept
**Note: The Poutama design is hard to see in the render, refer to image below
