Following last week’s look at an opening for a Senior Associate of Design for the Obama Presidential Center, we are using our Job Highlights series this week to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Unreal Engine Rendering Artist at PHNTM.

The position, situated in Los Angeles, calls for an individual with a degree in architecture or game and entertainment design with at least one year’s experience in Unreal Engine. Responsibilities will include developing "detailed 3D scenes and cinematic photo realistic images and videos," as well as "optimize assets for virtual tours" of PHNTM’s experiential projects.

Why the role interests us

The PHNTM role’s emphasis on proficiency in Unreal Engine marks the latest example of an architectural career’s intersection with immersive multimedia and gaming. Last month, the topic was also the focus on a MoMA exhibition showcasing its own video game collection. Last year, meanwhile, we asked what video games could teach us about urban planning, inspired by the explosion of interest in the metaverse that took place throughout the past two years.

Back in 2017, we dedicated a full feature article to the question of designing alternative realities such as games and simulations by sitting down with Network Architecture Lab founder Kazys Varnelis. "With games, we are architects not of buildings but of realities," Varnelis told us. "Sometimes we want to escape a reality that is unpleasant, sometimes we want to imagine a worse reality, other times we come up with realities that defy conventional logics. Games allow us to test these realities, examine our relationships with others and reflect upon the reality we live in."

In PHNTM’s case, Unreal Engine-adept designers will use their skills not to shape gaming environments but to support the company’s "immersive multimedia experiences" with music promotors such as Live Nation and brands such as Cartier and Gap. "Fueled by cutting-edge technology and forward-thinking creativity, improbability is our bread and butter," the company says. "We conceive and we execute, leaving audiences and on-lookers awestruck. Impossible isn’t in our vocabulary."

In expressing a will to use architecture and space as vehicles for immersive experiences, PHNTM also begin to echo sentiments expressed to us by the artist Refik Anadol. Last year, Anadol explained to us how his own passion for game design shaped his career in media arts, leading him to ask if we can make a building "dream, learn, or hallucinate."

Further reading for interested candidates

• Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design finally gives MoMA the chance to showcase its growing video game collection (November 2022)
• Can a Building Dream, Learn, and Hallucinate? A Conversation with Refik Anadol (September 2021)
• Faculty members from Cornell's architecture department develop virtual reality program for popular video game company Epic Games (June 2019)
• Epic Games unleashes Unreal with the Academy (August 2018)
• Designing Realities: Games, Simulations and Architecture—In Conversation with Kazys Varnelis (January 2017)
• How video game engines may influence the future of architecture (March 2015)
• Archinect's ongoing coverage of Unreal Engine
• PHNTM's Archinect profile
• Archinect Tips: Employment Edition (November 2020)

Job Highlights is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Meet Your Next Employer profiles and interviews interesting studios with open positions currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.