We’re now firmly in the age of photorealistic renders. Never have architects been able to
create such perfect visualisations of their projects before construction.
And yet, this technology comes with its dangers - and marketers eager to exaggerate angles
can make buildings appear taller, greener, or more environmentally-friendly
than they really are.
The temptation is only magnified in the age of social media, where a dramatic CGI image
can easily make headlines around the world.
So, how accurate are renders when compared with their final reality and are we actually
making huge, emotive decisions about building on misleading information?
Architectural renders have come a long way. From Filippo Brunelleschi’s introduction
of linear perspective in 1415 to the axonometric drawings of the Bauhaus movement in the 1920s
- architects have been evolving their renders for centuries, debating the best way to present
to the public and to clients a building that only exists in their imagination.
In the 2020s we’ve settled on computer rendering: focusing less on the emotive response to a
building - like the collages of the 1980s - and more on the physical reality of how
that building will actually appear - and an emphasis on the hyper-real has led to some
remarkably life-like renders.
San Francisco’s tallest new building for decades was proposing to give the city its
first supertall while dramatically changing its iconic skyline, all in one of the world’s
most seismically active regions. The public - and Salesforce - needed to be on board for both.
Meanwhile on the east coast, this luxury apartment tower had to justify its price tag and show
the public how elements from the historic Steinway Hall at its base would be respected
and continued into the sky.
Rising above the city’s largest and oldest market - dating back to 1414 - renders needed
to show how this tower in Seoul would respect its site’s history and breathe new life
into the area.
And Taiwan’s biggest cultural investment for a generation had many stakeholders at
its design stage while Zaha Hadid’s extension to Antwerp’s Port Authority Building was
so dramatic that everyone needed to understand exactly what would be happening from the outset.
But while each of these renders show the advancements made in computer imagery, countless others
have been accused of exaggeration, or have ultimately failed to live up to their real-life counterparts.
Some impressions have deliberately distorted their buildings, using tricks like a wider
lens or a dramatic perspective so that a skyscraper can appear more sculptural, or taller than it actually is.
Looking at this render you’d be forgiven for thinking these twin towers in Canberra
were among the tallest in the country - in reality they’re barely a hundred metres high.
In an arguably more dangerous phenomena dubbed “greenwashing” some designers have also
been known to add an excess of greenery to their buildings, decorating skyscrapers with
outdoor trees on every floor.
While some schemes have succeeded, in reality many of these so-called “treescrapers”
would be near-impossible to create at those extents.
Additional concrete and steel reinforcement are required to handle the extra weight of
trees, while irrigation systems are needed to water the plants. Harsh winds at those
heights can strip trees of their leaves and interrupt their photosynthetic processes.
The people appearing in renders has also been a point of contention. Some critics have called-out
a lack of diversity - or painful diversity box-ticking - while others have pointed to
unrealistic depictions meant solely to sell a building.
Ultimately the judgement on where the line between render and reality is drawn sits with
those creating these images, the information they are briefed with and the demands of their
clients. Some will use outstanding technology tools to make their ideas startlingly tangible,
while others will create their own reality. That’s not the fault of the technology,
which is developed to create images that are as true to real-life as possible - but of
the people using it.
As architectural renders only get more realistic there are certain tricks of the trade to be
mindful of - and it’s important to remember that a render isn’t reality, no matter how close it looks.
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