We meet the man behind Digital Twins, new technology that could change the way we view houses and explore the world
Would you buy a house without ever setting foot inside? However onerous the house-viewing process might be, it’s hard to imagine having the confidence to buy a home without first visiting it in person to get a sense for the size, the lighting, the ambience, and the hundreds of other factors big and small which influence our buying decisions.
Until now. Nur Sadiq is the man behind Digital Twins studio, an exciting new company that could which could change the way we explore the world, including the way we view homes and interact with interiors. The company creates detailed, interactive digital replicas of buildings or objects for use in industries including architecture, healthcare, heritage and real estate. Once a space has a digital twin, it can be explored online – meaning that potential buyers can take detailed virtual tours of a home they intend to buy without ever leaving their laptop.
“I’ve always had this keen interest in what’s around the bend in terms of technology,” Nur says. “I knew that digital twins have applications in banking, in fin tech, in laboratories and factories. I wanted to focus on how the tech could be used in real estate and museums.”
So how does a digital twin work? “The first step is that I take my drone, sensors and my 3D scanners, and my team and I capture information about an object or building,” Nur explains. “This data is then stitched together digitally to create an incredibly accurate model.”
This 3D model is interactive, highly detailed, and can be instantly updated to reflect any changes in its physical counterpart. Digital twins can reflect factors like lighting and seasonal changes, as well as “sunrise and sunset and the impact of the four seasons.”There are all kinds of uses for digital twin technology, from the development of smart cities to the conservation of old buildings. For architects, having a digital twin of a building can help them evaluate things like air-flow, lighting and energy efficiency from their desk. For heritage sites, a digital twin can be used to increase access to a museum or collection.
“Digital twins mean that people around the globe, even those who can’t afford to fly, or those who have physical handicaps, can use technology to explore different places, including museums where every painting and sculpture is tagged” Nur says. “If a heritage site is damaged, having a digital twin of it can allow it to be repaired or restored to its exact original specifications.”
In the world of real estate, creating a digital twin of your home has a host of benefits. In the luxury market where buyers might be based overseas, the ability to virtually tour your home can save money and time and widen your pool of potential buyers. Nur’s company can also provide data-gathering services which can help real estate agents to sell your home more efficiently.
“We can give the real estate agents access to analytics to help them track visitor data.” Nur says. “When someone spends a long time exploring a house via its digital twin, we can let agents know that these are serious potential buyers, so that they can follow up with them. I can also provide heat maps showing which rooms potential buyers spend the most time in so that we can see what is working for them.”
Even if buyers ultimately want to visit a home in person, access to a digital twin can be valuable in the early stages of a home search, speeding up a process that can often be time-consuming and costly.
“It’s a really exciting tool for real estate, and for so many other industries. The amazing thing is that it keeps developing. There are so many potential uses. I would have to live for 500 years to discover all the uses for this technology!”
digitaltwins.studio
