Architect Richard McLaughlin has created the N-vision Neighborhood

Architect Richard McLaughlin has created the N-vision Neighborhood Modeling System, which consists of a handbook and CD-ROM, plus a 1,000-piece “wood chip” set, enough to model a 40-acre mixed-use neighborhood. Additional wood chips — small wood-block buildings created at a 1 inch to 40 foot scale — can be ordered for larger neighborhoods. The wood chips are highly varied. For example, the set includes eight types of sideyard houses designed for lot widths ranging from 18 feet to 36 feet. McLaughlin describes N-vision as a “highly tactile, reusable modeling system” useful in “describing the essence of place and sense of community.” Find out more at www.neighborhoodmodeling.net.