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Introduction and Theory |Inadequacy of Current Visualization Methods

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Introduction and Theory |Inadequacy of Current Visualization Methods

This is made worse by the fact that the bulk of the architect’s fees actually come from the production of construction documents, where most of the detailed design is to be conveyed through orthographic drawings. (Fig. 1.2.27 - 28) Comparing this to perspective drawings—which not only take longer to produce but are also not required within a construction documentation package—it makes sense that the visualization budget within architecture firms is much smaller than that of film studios.

Because of these factors, architects are usually so stripped of time that they must prioritize on visualizing the architecture rather than how the architecture will be used, having no choice but to throw people into the final rendering as an afterthought, or even leaving them out completely, resulting in a barren, lifeless space. What this means is not only are architects rushing to introduce them at the end of the project, thus compromising the quality of their pitch, but they are also not visualizing them as they design, thus compromising the design’s potential.

While this lack of occupancy visualization is not the end of the project, it does not change the fact that people will occupy these exterior and interior spaces in the physical world. As such, ignoring the ability to portray crowd dynamics at these varying scales would be ignoring a large aspect of both interior crowd interactions as well as exterior crowd flows from the surrounding context. These concerns become even more substantial with dynamic spaces due to the increasing interactions between people and architecture. It is disheartening that architects design buildings to be occupied by people yet don’t have the time to consider them within their visualization tools. If architects can barely afford the time to even produce static perspectives, then it is by no means a surprise that many firms are choosing to not utilize dynamic perspective videos within their design workflows and client pitches.

Architects are hired to provide good designs to clients, meaning clients hire architects because they trust them to provide high quality design. However, now as the film and gaming industries expand, client expectations for visualizations may also become higher due to their increased exposure to everyday media. Good renderings have become ordinary and commonplace, as such, to keep up with these expectations, architecture must also adopt better visualization methods.

Typical breakdown of architectural fees

By Jorge Fontan, “Architectural Fees,” February 7, 2018, Fontan Architecture, accessed December 18, 2019, https://jorgefontan.com/architectural-fees/.

Typical time-line of architectural design phases

By HMH Modern Architecture, from “Architectural Phases,” Ibello Architect, accessed December 18, 2019, https://www.ibelloarchitects.com/architectural-phases/.