Based on an unusual premise, the first ‘drafts’ for this work were born sometime around the end of the 2nd year of my Architecture academic studies.

Considering the undeniable spatial quality present at the Faculty of Architecture building (designed by Álvaro Siza), I come up with the idea of trying to explore new entertainment possibilities regarding this architecture by associating it with a medium greatly developed in the last few years: videogames.

I tried to take advantage of the possibilities of 3D graphical simulation made available by the most recent games. I decided to build a multiplayer scenery (‘map’) for the Call of Duty (CoD) franchise, whose space would be a 3D virtual mimesis of the Faculty’s buildings and facilities. Originally the idea was developed for CoD2, but later it was converted and further improved in CoD4, given its much better technical features. The modeling and scripting tools that were used were mostly the ones that had already been publicly released by the game developers.

The exercise turned out to be one of my first contacts with the world of digital 3D representation. It demanded a very careful comprehension of some processes of virtual geometry modelling, as well as texturing and lighting. A whole range of pure computer investigation was also necessary in order to get the map running properly in the game.

The attractiveness and significance of this ‘project’ lies in the level of interaction – completely different from that of a conventional 3D modeling application – that one can experience in the created building model. Visually the high capacities of real-time graphical rendering offered by the game engine opened remarkable possibilities. And without a doubt, after being finished, this work granted endless hours of fun to hundreds of Architecture students.