Architectural firm Dunedin creates virtual studio for Fox Sports

US sports channel Fox Sports’ coverage of two of football’s biggest tournaments – the European Championship and the Copa América – takes place in a Kiwi-designed virtual studio that is believed to be the largest ever built.

Dubbed the ‘football basilica’ and inspired by cathedrals and palaces, all of the network’s coverage of the simultaneous tournaments is hosted in the 1.3 hectare space.

Architecture van Brandenburg, a Dunedin-based studio, has previously designed a number of impressive buildings, with the vast digital environment being the first-ever virtual design.

The small team of six worked as if they were physically building the set from scratch, according to designer Damien van Brandenburg.

“We had to consider every aspect to make it convincingly real. Think of all the lighting details, the air conditioning. We even did a fire escape because we had to make it look real as a building.”

Fellow Dunedinite Sir Ian Taylor gave the company a big break during a visit from Fox Sports director Zac Fields while the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was underway.

“While he was here, I said, ‘You should come and see my friend Damien, they’re doing this incredible architecture.’ He came over, looked at all this stuff and then left.

“I saw a thought pop into his head.”

That thought fermented into a concrete proposal, with an impressed Fields taking the idea to California.

“We thought there might be some drawings. Ultimately there were about a dozen different versions of an environment, so we knew right away the quality of the work that could be done with it,” Fields said.

It is likely the first of many produced by Van Brandenburg and his team, he said.

“If we do another one, we actually know what we’re getting from each other and we know how things work.

“I think it’s only going to get better.”