Clients: Renaissance Leeds
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Squint/Opera is a unique film and media production studio that specialises in creating visual mock-ups of architectural projects. In their London-based studio, the efforts of a variety of creative folk – from directors to architects, animators to music composers – unite to create a range of short films about the physical environment, installations, and other creative and broadcast content.
In 2008, Squint/Opera approached Sound in Theory to create the website for the latest project they were developing for Renaissance Leeds. A collaboration between Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Forward, English Partnerships and the Leeds Initiative; Renaissance Leeds is an initiative conceptualising the future of the city of Leeds, identifying key aspects of the city as it stands now to plan its development. Renaissance Leeds’s goal is to add a new layer of interconnected urban space to the existing city that respects its history, topography and geology.
Squint/Opera had been commissioned to produce a series of vector images for Renaissance Leeds, derived from sketches created by architect John Thorp. His series of exploratory drawings use complex visual metaphors to represent the dynamics of development in Leeds. Squint/Opera also created the film ‘Leeds: A Rising City’ – an impressive short that uses imaginative design, innovative visual effects and inventive music to take the viewer on a journey through the city of Leeds, as envisioned by the Renaissance Leeds project. The website Sound in Theory created showcases these assets.
Throughout the web design and development process, Sound in Theory worked closely with Squint/Opera to ensure that the site cultivates and delivers the Renaissance Leeds vision, whilst reflecting the spirit of innovation and forward-thinking that John Thorp captures in his sketches and Squint/Opera portray in its film.
Using great, appropriate design; intuitive, transparent site architecture and interactive devices; Leedsrisingcity.org invites people to explore Leeds as conceptualised by Renaissance Leeds. The full-flash website features flash items that visitors can zoom into to discover more about Leeds, the Renaissance Leeds project and the context of the project – including a variety of maps at different scales. The website showcases John Thorp’s exploratory drawings and Squint/Opera’s imaginative film on separate flash media galleries, which show off their innovative work beautifully and are easily updateable.
Responsibilities for Renaissance Leeds