What's in a rendering

At lunch last week my friend Nick asked me "what's an architectural rendering?" and I was a little bit taken aback. In my own vocabulary I count 'sketch' and 'model' at least on the same level as 'rendering'.. and doesn't everyone know what sketches and models are?

Rendering from a recent design project.
Total-block design set in the San Juan Barrio of Quito, Ecuador.

For some reason when my friend asked about architectural renderings though I was taken by surprise. In my mind, a rendering is the natural culmination of an architectural design proposal. It's the picture that allows someone to enter into the world of the 3D model and experience in glossy 2D what exactly has been proposed as an architectural design.

Perhaps my reasoning for this is unfounded, but ever since my first day of college the idea of 2D 'representation' as a medium for communicating a spatial architectural message was the modus operandi of the design process.  I call this idea a 'rendering' and around other students I haven't had to question the idea much.

But in fact an architectural rendering is not just the end product of a spatial visualization.  It's not just the money shot  that gets thrown around archdaily and suckerpunch.

Architectural rendering, courtesy of Bjarke Ingalls Group. Would any of this
actually happen at once? Probably not. But isn't that the idea.

I'm beginning to realize that a rendering is an immersion not into the actual world of a design, but into the conceptual world that a designer has imagined; it is something of a best-of-all-possible-worlds scenario where just like the picture above, things may happen in a 2D image that would never happen contemporaneously. The sort of thing that makes you ask, 'is that a couple making out on a balcony as kids play on snow-covered car? Oh, but there's a building in there also and I guess that's what I'm supposed to be looking at.'

Is this an architectural rendering? I'd say yes but just barely.
Image courtesy of SuckerPUNCH

In my opinion the Merriam-Webster definition of render does little to support the public knowledge of what an architectural rendering actually means.  After three definitions that seem to indicate 'render' as an act of passing an object along to someone by means of physical conveyance, the fourth definition strikes perhaps closest to what I would call the proper definition of an architectural rendering.

4 b (1) :  to reproduce or represent by artistic means.

But even this definition falls short; I propose that a rendering is not only the artistic means of reproduction or representation, but also the immersion of the viewer into a world created by the artist/designer. For that reason some of my favorite architectural renders are those like the work created by concept artist Bruno Werneck; allusional but not defined. Atmospheric, but not intangible.  If architectural drawings could expand to include this sort of rendering style, I think it would broaden the horizon of the profession to encompass a much more immersive experience than what is commonly associated with architectural design proposals.

Bruno Werneck concept sketch from the game 1313

International Employment

“The world has been flattened… Global collaboration and competition… has been made cheaper, easier, more friction-free, and more productive for more people from more corners of the earth than at any time in the history of the world.”
Thomas Friedman

In the national economy it is no secret that jobs are hard to come by. The United States faces the harsh reality of job outsourcing and as a country we must rely on our solid base of office and service commercial industries, as well as several stalwart production industries, in order to compete in the global economy. More and more American jobs are being assumed by foreign workers who are able to do the same jobs that Americans do, but at far lower prices.

So what is the solution to this national economic issue? We can either embrace the coming change and accept our role as a “creativity economy” or we can take a stand, much as the National Romantics and Arts & Crafts designers of Europe and America did in the late 1800s and early 1900s following the industrial revolution, and we can demand higher quality local services from ourselves instead of cheaper outsourced goods and products. This means we will have to give up such “necessities” as Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon.com, and turn to local producers who produce at a generally higher quality and retail price.

But truthfully, are Americans ready to make this shift? I think not. The typical American is too afraid to life a life without commercial securities. As a nation, we have become attached to large corporations and we would flounder hopelessly in a nation of mom-and-pop retail stores. There must be some happy medium.

What does this mean to design students? Any American design student that wishes to find a place in the global economy must recognize this trend towards domestic reliance on international supply and the role of a designer to take products that would otherwise be viewed as foreign and we must make them appear (or even be) local, relatable, and vernacular.

In the end, a job overseas may not be out of the question for design students wishing to take advantage of architectural development in other countries. Only time will tell, but as Thomas Friedman emphasizes, “There is no substitute for face-to-face reporting and research.” Outsourced design and fabrication can only go so far. Where that limit lies is anyone’s guess, but as the world flattens the possibilities for international trade, manufacturing, and yes, even design, expand into new frontiers every day.

"Death to starchitecture."
-Lance Hosey, 2010

Published last week by Lance Hosey of architecturemagazine.com, “10 for ‘20” is a list that sets out to predict what could (or should) happen next in over the coming decade in a “greening” building industry.

The article focuses on the technical, systemic, and operations management side of architecture, with an emphasis on the potential of integrative design, community development, and ecological inspiration. Hosey centers on how automated process is one of the credos architects should swear by, and the article champions the possibilities of LEED, a system whose impact has grown far beyond its initial expectations and is likely to expand even more in the coming years.

For students, the author writes that an increased valuation of “ecological literary could reform education at every level and transform design schools around a more aggressively interdisciplinary curricula.” This focus, according to Hosey, forecasts how “the glamorization of the individual architect could become less and less appealing as design becomes valued more for how it serves the communities.”

Among its many predictions for the coming decade, the article champions how architects should subscribe to new forms and applications of technology to meet energy needs and community requirements. Students should also embrace this aspect of architecture – being knowledgeable of design potentials and professional practices will lead to a more holistic and genuine form of long-lasting and well-conceived design.