The maze was created on the virtual hemisphere

Mr Paterson, 27, worked closely with artist Shona Kitchen and architect Nick Coombe, who were commissioned to create the new artistic feature at Kielder.

He told BBC News Online: "Making this model and preparing a presentation for the university's virtual reality hemisphere was quite a challenge.

"The architect did the designs as 2D line drawings and I had to make a 3D model from that.

"I had to learn how to use the software and the design has been changing as we have gone along.

"It has been a very enjoyable and useful experience as my interest during my MSc course lay in environmental design."

Kielder Forest is already home to a number of art works, including the award winning Kielder Belvedere and the Skyspace.

The 3D image was adapted from 2D drawings

Peter Sharpe, curator of arts and architecture at Kielder, said the maze - called Minotaur - would be sited at the base of Kielder Castle deep in the heart of the forest.

The University of Teesside's head of digital arts and media, Carol Cooke, said the virtual plans would improve the final result.

"Nick Combe and Shona Kitchen won the commission with their innovative ideas for a maze made from wire mesh shapes filled with dark coloured stone.

"They tried out several designs but were unable to fully visualise the finished maze.

"Then we hit on the idea of a virtual maze, which would allow the design to be easily tweaked if necessary."

The Minotaur project has been awarded an Art for Architecture grant, from the Royal Society of Arts, to continue development work.