RENDERING / GRAPHICS

Q: (How) Should I render this?

A: What are you trying to tell us with this drawing? Your graphic choices should help reinforce the purpose of each drawing.

At this point in the semester nobody is gong to read a long blog post, but I’m hoping to help answer some recent questions on the topic with examples.

One main point: you are not required to use a special program, make photo-realistic views, or utilize any one style or technique in developing your drawings. What’s important to me is that your drawings show your project well and are made well. I’d much rather have one good line drawing where you’ve carefully controlled your lineweights and photoshopped in a few select things than 5 fully “realistic” renderings where the overall effect of all the materials and lighting and entourage is less successful. “Less is more” can apply to renderings in both quantity and technique.

Line is fine

Selective areas of tone and entourage can draw attention but even just linework can clearly convey your design.

  • careful outlining to show the exterior space
  • outlining (and a hint of color)
  • color toning to accentuate
  • shadows and lineweights to show depth
  • linework with subtle color toning

Abstraction is your friend

Draw attention where you want it by not drawing/rendering all things equally. White space where we don’t see much can be very informative.

  • abstracting and fading away the surroundings
  • the building shows even as white space
  • the roof lines are all the context needed
  • collage-like area of focused image
  • perspective-section just showing the space

Rendering artistically, not photo-realistically

Using context images

The skyline in the background, the adjacent buildings, even less identifiable context like sidewalk and street trees are readily acquired from site photos or the internet (everything is on Google Street View) and photoshopped into perspective views. Note how commonly the image is made black/white or otherwise manipulated to unify it with the representation of the project and/or draw less attention to the context than the project

  • the texture of the ground connects the building and context
  • showing context while keeping focus on the building
  • The skyline is part of defining the space
  • heavily manipulated to bring the rendering and background together
  • photographic elevation context

Selective Color

You can unify a presentation across drawings and highlight significant parts of your design.

  • color-toning
  • suggesting facade materials but not literally
  • diagrammatic color
  • emphasizing design concept
  • distinguishing interior and exterior

EXAMPLES BY DRAWING TYPE

Selected examples from Professor Park’s post (and a few additions) to show a range of graphic styles.

SITE PLANS

PLANS

SECTIONS

ELEVATIONS

USED TOGETHER

SECTION-ELEVATION DETAIL COMBO

SECTION-PERSPECTIVES

PERSPECTIVE-SECTIONS

Instead of a true orthographic section with a one-point perspective, a 2-point perspective view with part of your building cut away as a section.

AXONOMETRICS / ISOMETRICS

EXTERIOR VIEWS

INTERIOR VIEWS

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