Deepdene House,

Dorking, Surrey

(Unknown) Demolished in 1967

Digital reconstruction of demolished house and interactive video for museum

OASIS: n/a

Thomas Hope was an influential regency designer noted for his furniture designs. Hope was also an advocate for the picturesque movement. He practised his ideas for the interaction of landscape and architecture at his country estate, The Deepdene near Dorking, Surrey. He completed this masterpiece in 1826. Sadly the house was demolished by British Rail in 1967, which was replaced by a modern office block in 1969, an act described by Pevsner as ‘as disgraceful and depressing story’.

The JESSOP Consultancy was commissioned by the York Archaeological trust to create digital models of the house, ancillary buildings and landscaped grounds and to incorporate these into an interactive Kiosk instillation for the local museum in Dorking.

Working from plans and contemporary watercolour illustrations we created a detailed digital model of the house as realised by Thomas Hope. Once the 3D models of the house were completed, they were set into a reconstruction of the grounds surrounding the house and then incorporated into a gaming engine.

We were also tasked with building a model of the Deepdene prior to its acquisition by Thomas Hope, so that the true scale of Hope's vision and alterations can be compared to the original house, including the 1700's Italianate Howard garden.

Scope of work: archive research, 3D reconstruction and visualisation, interactive museum display