From concept to reality

“Scale models are an incomparable tool for research, assessment, expression and presentation of a project,” explains Suren Simonyan, the architect and model-maker for Loftus. “Models help everyone, even outside the profession, to set their minds working and imagine the future project concretely in space.” Before he worked with Loftus, Suren cut his teeth with prestigious companies such as New-Tone, for model-making, and Dominique Perrault for architecture. Some of his models used to be on show at the Pompidou Centre Museum in Paris.



With Loftus, he has found a new way of applying his talent using a fast-functioning prototyping machine—a 3 dimensional colour printer—in which the company has recently invested. “It’s a revolutionary piece of surprisingly precise equipment, which is ideal for creating sophisticated, curved forms. It is sometimes difficult to find a suitable casting method, but this machine takes all original drawings and faithfully reproduces them in their three-dimensional form, whatever that might be. It is perfect for sampling or prototyping a new product.” The architect also insists on the complementarity between the two methods. “There is a symbiosis between classic models and 3D printing that offers an even richer palette of expression.”

Producing decors

In its beginnings, Loftus’s focus was simply engineering; since the company has diversified into theme creation and decors for attraction parks, specifically for a project the company is currently working on in Turkey. The concept designer, Arnaud Delatour, was recruited for this very reason. “Previously I was doing a lot of 2D computer graphics for printed works as well as 3D virtual modelling and rendering for events, which include actual model production and casting. The park industry had been tempting me for a long time; I really wanted to get behind the scenes of such magical worlds.” Having designed the decors for the future Turkish park and its attractions, Arnaud put design aside and focussed on production. After training in how to operate a foam cutting machine, he now creates polystyrene decors he himself has dreamt up. “I stepped up to a scale I’d never touched before. Discovering the machine and the limits of the material cuts down on time wasting and the continual back-and-forth between an impracticable concept and production,” says the decidedly polyvalent Arnaud.



As well as polystyrene features, the Loftus decoration specialists take care of painting, mineral coating for building decors and polyurethane coating for sculptures in contact with the public. The company also installs prefabricated or handmade fake concrete rocks using a number of techniques. Just another of the tricks up the sleeve of this young company with great ambitions in the attraction park industry.