Simulator lets campus planners envision UCLA in the future

Take a tour of the future Geffen Hall via this 3-D visual simulation, courtesy of UCLA Capital Programs. When the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority was grappling with massive debt and traffic gridlock in the 1990s, it was difficult to see what direction it should be moving in next. City officials, including then Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, decided to visit Curitiba, a city in Brazil, to see an innovative network of express buses whisk passengers along dedicated lanes. They came away impressed. But what really won Yaroslavsky over to the idea of express buses was a video prepared by a group of techno-wizards from UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design. They had successfully married military flight simulation and virtual reality technology to create a groundbreaking, interactive urban planning tool. Using both bird's-eye and pedestrian vantage points, the video showed how a "Metro Rapid" bus system would look on Wilshire Boulevard.