Every Cityform model starts as data, not clay. A 1 km × 1 km square of a real city is measured, rebuilt as a 3D mesh, and printed at 1:11000 on a 9 × 9 cm plate. Here is the full process, stage by stage.
1. The survey data
Two open sources do the measuring. Environment Agency LIDAR records ground and rooftop heights from the air, so building heights are measured rather than guessed. OpenStreetMap supplies the footprints, the street grid, and the water. Together they fix where every terrace, junction, and river bank sits.
2. Building the mesh
The footprints are extruded to their LIDAR heights and set onto the underlying terrain, so a city on a ridge reads as a ridge and a riverside basin sits low. Roads are cut as shallow grooves, water is dropped hollow, and bridges are filled in as solid decks rather than free-standing spans, because anything that would otherwise hang in mid-air is closed in so the plate prints as one continuous piece. The result is a single watertight mesh that holds the real geometry of that square kilometre.
3. Printing at 0.16mm
The mesh prints in white PLA at a 0.16mm layer height — fine enough to trace a street and read a building edge. Each model is printed to order in Sheffield, then set on a black ribbed base that gives the white relief enough contrast to read at a glance.
4. The label
A stainless-steel label is laser-engraved with the place name and its coordinates and fixed to the base. Standard or personalised text is set before printing, so the engraving matches the square on the plate.
5. Made to order, then posted
Production runs to about 7 working days. The finished model ships by Royal Mail Tracked 48 with free UK delivery, packed in a 3D-printed storage case inside a kraft mailer.
Browse the ready-made cities in the full collection, read more on how it's made, or design your own square with Make Yours.