Our Process: Creating Better Visualization For Clients
With lots of new projects on the horizon, we thought we’d share more about our design process and how we get from the floor plan stage to the photorealistic rendering stage. Though our photorealistic renderings are a visualization tool, they are often not seen by our clients until we are almost finished with the documentation portion of our work. Here’s how we work:
The development of our projects is separated into sequential phases. The first three phases are led by the architect. These phases are DESIGN, DOCUMENTS and PROCUREMENT. These are also known in industry contractual terms as Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents and Bidding. The remaining phase is led by the Contractor and we call it CONSTRUCTION, with the Architect’s role technically referred to as CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION. I’ll break down the first two phases quickly and then show you an example of how our design work turns into those pretty renderings you see on Instagram.
DESIGN
In the design phase, our goal is to lock in the floor plan and general massing. Small tweaks can be made after we finalize the design, but we’d like for 80-90% of the layout to be pinned down before moving into the DOCUMENTS phase.
Other deliverables in the DESIGN phase are concept boards illustrating the stylistic concepts that will guide decisions in the next phase. If required, we may review the design with any historic neighborhood commissions.
DOCUMENTS
In the DOCUMENTS phase, we engineer the structure (again, making it all more important to lock in a floor plan) and we select and detail of all the materials and fixtures on the project so that everything is spatially and technically coordinated in the drawings for the trades. The DOCUMENTS phase is also when the drawings are issued for permit. We make any adjustments to the plans that the City requires before issuing the plans for the BIDDING phase.
EXAMPLES
Let’s take for example our St. Charles Avenue Pool House Project. Below is an example of our visualization tools in the DESIGN phase.
Seen above is a Revit rendering showing basic design concept. This rendering will accompany a finalized plan.
Below is an example of our visualization tools in the DOCUMENTS phase.
As our work develops through the DOCUMENTS phase we make more and more specific choices, and those decisions are incorporated into the model as we develop our drawings. As you can see between the rough rendering in the DESIGN phase and the more realistic rendering in the DOCUMENTS phase, we made a few design tweaks as we honed in on the details. Realistic visualization and modeling forces the development of many small details that could be fudged or were not evident in the sketchy model. The stairs, the cornice detail, and the door design were all adjusted, but the overall design concepts and plan did not change.
NEXT, let’s see how the interiors of this project developed.
First, we need to define a design strategy using detailed images of other projects with aspects that we would like to incorporate into a holistic interior approach.
We look for images on Pinterest to help build a story board or concept board that depicts the overall vibe of the project.
We begin modeling the components. In this stage, everything is in black and white.
Once all of the components are built, we will add the material and color. This is where the real visualization fun begins!
The above image is the final design we landed on; however, there were many iterations of this kitchen that came after the black and white stage, but before the final. This tool is great for helping clients visualize all the materials and finishes next to each other and how it ties together with the architecture.
Another example
Below are some renderings showing the difference between our DESIGN phase renderings and our DOCUMENTS phase renderings.
In the DESIGN phase, we are still testing out ideas
In the DOCUMENTS phase, we are testing out materiality and finishes
In the DESIGN phase, we look at big picture ideas this included massing and scale for this Irish Channel project.
In the DOCUMENTS phase, we add materiality and details that make the project special.
It’s important to remember that every project is different with a different set of design goals, so the renderings at certain milestones in the project may look further or less developed than other projects. New construction projects may address the exterior prior to interior where renovations may address interior form and materiality prior to the exterior development.