Visualising Architecture

Architectural Hand Drawing VS Architectural Rendering. A personal experiment exploring the merits of traditional and computer generated images.

By Paulina Konkina

Architectural illustration, is the art of creating two-dimensional images or animations that representa a building in a realistic setting. However, until 3D computer modelling became common, most architectural renderings were created by hand. There are still many architectural illustrators who create renderings entirely by hand. Many successful architects use a combination of hand and computer work.

I have always found it fascinating how architects can create a especially if you don’t know more advanced rendering programs such as 3DS Max or don’t have essential Photoshop skills. It seems that architecture students rely on the computer softwares an awful lot, and the art of architectural hand drawing started to disappear. However, I want to proove that it’s not true and try to promote the hand drawing.

kindly provided me with a few of her own renders, produced during can produce hand drawings that will be as powerful and convincing as these beautiful renders by reproducing the same scenes with watercolours. I am going to treat as a personal experiment.

When describing her experience of doing this render, Sophie mentioned that all the images for this project were a big struggle. The Sketch Up Model was very, very detailed, so naturally Sophie’s computer crashed as soon as she tried to start rendering. However,

Sophie says that the image below also caused a few technical the image is very well composed, and conveys the atmosphere and mood of the design, selling the scheme off very well.