Trace

Tracing Human Crowd in Borough Market

Services

Motion Design

Client

University Brief

Software

Houdini, Blender, After Effects

Year

2025

Info

Markets are dense spaces of interaction, movement, and sensory experience. We were asked to explore one theme: an environmental element, flora or fauna, human activity, or an alternative way of navigation.

During my visit to Borough Market, I noticed that a narrow alley with the most popular food stalls (like chocolate-covered strawberries and paella) was always the most crowded area. At peak times, I couldn’t move freely and was carried by the flow of the crowd.

Inspired by this, I visualized the changing patterns of human movement in the alley over time, from quiet to fully packed.

Site Research

I scanned the human crowd at the busiest alley in Borough Market as a point cloud format every hour.

Human Crowd Simulation

I've imported the ply point cloud scan of the human, but I faced challenges with the quality of the scan and animating the point clouds.

So I've recreated the human crowd scans from Borough Market alley as a human simulation in Houdini, controlling the density, obstacles, and direction to replicate the alley's human interaction around the alley.

Camera Angle Experiment

After creating a series of crowd simulations, I've experimented with the color, composition, and visual narrative to communicate my theme. To visualise the feeling of human density, I decided to use identical human appearances and angles for the feet.