Inspiration comes from many places but more often than not, it comes from the inspired. Perhaps this is why CGSociety and NVIDIA held their artspace|Architecture and Landscape Digital Design competition earlier this year. While more typically associated with the worlds of gaming and cinematic effects, hundreds of CG designers had a go at showing us what future and other-worldly landscapes could look like, if we just used a little more imagination.

More and more, gaming is about telling a story and the more dramatic the better. The NVArt competition allowed digital artists to inject life into stationary structures, adding narrative to help define the structures and to stretch the technical boundaries of design. But while by today's abilities the designs are unlikely to reach fruition, they also exhibit a strong regard for contemporary architectural considerations.