Archinect - Features

How Computing Transformed Architectural Visualization

2024-12-12T08:00:00-05:00

Over the past seven decades, the invention and evolution of computing technology have had a profound and transformative impact on the field of architectural visualization. From early computer-aided design (CAD) software to today's photorealistic 3D rendering, virtual reality, and generative AI tools, the advent of digital architectural visualization has offered the profession the means to produce imagery faster and cheaper than the exclusively analog visualizations of previous centuries.

Moreover, computing has enabled such visuals to be produced at an increasingly intuitive, accessible level; while the entry-level skills required to generate architectural visuals plummets, the photorealistic quality of such visuals soars.

In this latest edition of Archinect In-Depth: Visualization, we explore how advances in computing from sectors beyond architecture, from aviation to art, mechanics to media, were adopted, shaped, and molded by architects throughout the 20th and 21st century in th...

Architectural Visualization Was Rather Flat: Then We Invented Perspective

2024-10-23T12:32:00-04:00

Before the invention of architectural perspective, architects and artists faced significant challenges in visualizing and communicating architectural space. Without a systematic way to represent depth and spatial relationships, architectural drawings were often symbolic, schematic, or abstract rather than realistic.

From ancient times through the Middle Ages, the ability to convey three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional medium, representing space in a manner satisfactory to the human eye, eluded even the most advanced societies and civilizations — at least, as far as historians know.

Then, in Renaissance Italy, a solution emerged that would change the field of architectural visualization, and of architecture, forever.

This article is part of the Archinect In-Depth: Visualization series.

Let’s Talk About Architectural Visualization

2024-10-14T08:00:00-04:00

Welcome to Archinect In-Depth: Visualization. Over the coming weeks, Archinect will explore the process of visualizing architectural work and what challenges and opportunities the field presents for the architectural design process. Our journey will include not only tips and advice for designers seeking to improve their own visualization skills in the present day but also reflections on the history of architectural visualization and explorations into the forces shaping its future.

What we will cover in this series:

History of Visualization
Contemporary Questions
External Influences
Tips for Designers
Future Trends

'You Need to Use AI Much More Than You Think to Get Unique Results From It'; A Conversation with Alexis Christodoulou

2023-07-26T08:00:00-04:00

Studying Alexis Christodoulou’s work, including his highly popular Instagram portfolio, one would expect his images to be the product of decades of education, training, and practice at the top of the field. The fact that Christodoulou is a self-taught artist of ten years, preceded by a career in advertising and winemaking, is a testament to the artist’s flair and passion for exploring new frontiers.

That same passion for exploration has allowed Christodoulou’s work to evolve from its simple architectural beginnings to vivid, minimalist experiments in Modernism, Brutalism, and the natural world, to present-day commissions by luxury brands through his company, Color C Design Studio.

In June 2023, Archinect’s Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Christodoulou about his career in 3D visualization, including his background, process, tools, and thoughts on how artificial intelligence intersects with his field. The discussion, edited slightly for clarity, is published below.

This article is part...

Navigating Memes, Selfies and the Post-Digital Landscape with Mackenzie Muhonen

2019-01-24T10:29:00-05:00

Thesis Review is a collection of conversations, statements and inquiries into the current state of thesis in academia. Thesis projects give a glimpse into the current state of the academic arena while painting a picture for the future of practice.

Each feature will present a contemporary thesis project through the voice of those that constructed it. This week, we talk to Mackenzie Muhonen about her thesis, Low Fidelity, recently presented at MIT in the Master of Architecture program.

Screen/Print #46: 'Quick Images' Complicate Architectural Discourse in 'Hatch' from Penn Design

2016-10-27T12:25:00-04:00

What is architectural discourse in an era of so-called "quick images"? As a collection of conversations between students and professors, Hatch explores the culture of social media and the subsequent disconnect it has created between disciplined, professional works of architecture and flashy (if ubiquitous) presentations.