Archinect - News

Render vs Reality: Mecanoo nails it. Take a look.

2019-02-12T15:38:00-05:00

We've all seen them: photorealistic, high-gloss architectural renderings of new, flashy projects, and then—a few years later—the actual, built reality looks nothing like the too-good-to-be-true visualizations the public was sold on. Natural light, the lack of natural light, dust, humidity, material changes, shoddy construction, and (yikes!) human interaction can drastically widen the gap between the commission-winning, highly publicized, sometimes even iconic renderings and the real building we're left with for eternity.

The team at Mecanoo is all too aware of the phenomenon and has created the Pinterest board "Render vs Reality" where the Dutch firm proudly shows off an array of its completed projects from around the globe side-by-side with the architectural illustrations of these buildings, such as the National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts, Library of Birmingham, Tilburg LocHal Library, and the brand new Shenzhen Longgang Cultural Centre.

↑ Interior Design of LocHal Library in Ti...

Hyper-Reality: Artist envisions our near-future existence submerged in augmented reality

2016-05-26T15:05:00-04:00

Hyper-Reality is a concept film by Keiichi Matsuda. It presents a provocative and kaleidoscopic new vision of the future, where physical and virtual realities have merged, and the city is saturated in media.

"Our physical and virtual realities are becoming increasingly intertwined. Technologies such as VR, augmented reality, wearables, and the internet of things are pointing to a world where technology will envelop every aspect of our lives. It will be the glue between every interaction and experience, offering amazing possibilities, while also controlling the way we understand the world. Hyper-Reality attempts to explore this exciting but dangerous trajectory. It was crowdfunded, and shot on location in Medellín, Colombia."

Here are some stills from artist Keiichi Matsuda's HYPER-REALITY concept film, a fascinating (and slightly disturbing) vision of the near future of the city, of the media, of ourselves, and the blurred sense of 'reality.'

Watch the video below to dive right in.

Editor's Picks #232

2011-10-09T12:52:59-04:00

Orhan Ayyüce, alerts Archinect to the fact that recently LADOT “erected traffic signal in front of historically significant Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. No notification was ever sent to institutions, individuals and organizations in charge of the house which is open to public.” Janosh believes “That's so audacious that it's the perfect example of LADOT's total detachment from the world outside of traffic engineering. Cars, after all, can't appreciate architecture.”

Guy Horton, author of Contours, Archinect's featured series on the business, politics, and culture of architecture, gets real regarding our current economic situation. He states "discussions about the recession in the architecture field have been less than up-front and honest. Much of this is related to the need for firms to do internal damage-control while continuing to project a positive brand out into the marketplace. Media permeates every aspect of the business now...Very little about the reality of the current economy makes it through the firewall."

News
Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz, died at age 75. As chicagoski commented “Makovecz showed that you don't need a computer to get away from the orthogonal”.

The world also lost Steve Jobs this week. Paul Petrunia, thinks the “The world is a little less interesting now” In response to which Gregory Walker, said “less interesting and less imaginary. ..and apple can leave the best legacy simply by continuing to dare to fai...