Siemens
City Icon
City Icon is a generative city simulation featured at Sustainable Cities exhibition in the Crystal building in London.
The city is a mix of intersecting systems, fluently transforming and interacting with each other. Traffic jams, water streams, nature enclaves, emergency states and energy sources appear and disappear during the day giving a feeling of dynamic but well balanced city.
Client
- Siemens
2012 / London, UK
![](img/state_mix_7.jpg)
![](img/state_mix_8.jpg)
![](img/state_mix_2.jpg)
![](img/state_mix_6.jpg)
States
Together with Squint/Opera, Variable designed and developed 6 simulations representing different sub-systems of the city.
Traffic is represented by car lights at night leaving traces behind them and water flows through the streets.
![](img/state_traffic.jpg)
![](img/state_water.jpg)
Nature is a growing plant spreading through the city while healthcare is envisioned as a living organism that transforms buildings into cells and with blood vessels taking over the streets.
![](img/state_nature.jpg)
![](img/state_health.jpg)
Emergency states are handled by vehicles arriving from nerby areas while smart grid produces energy powering the neighborhoods.
![](img/state_emergency.jpg)
![](img/state_energy.jpg)
Exhibition
City Icon is part of the Sustainable Cities Initiative by Siemens at The Crystal in London, UK.
![](img/853siemens008b.jpg)
![](img/city-icon-01.jpg)
![](img/city-icon-02.jpg)
![](img/closeup.jpg)
Software
A bespoke application was developed to run and test the generative animation.
![](img/city-icon-gui.jpg)