ArchiHacks is an online resource for architects dedicated to architecture visualization, portfolio, and design tips and tricks for students and professionals. This article was written by team member Tommy Minh Nguyen.
With the closure of workshops and in-person meetings, physical models became less effective during the pandemic. Nevertheless, there is a sense of completion and achievement that comes out of having physical models occupy real space. Today’s article will walk you through adding a 3D model into a photograph to fabricate a situation where a digital model can occupy “real” space. Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to utilize this tutorial, but it could still offer an alternative to achieving the same goal! Remember, design will always have more than just one solution.
Here’s what you’ll need:
3D model
Rhino + V-ray *You can use any 3D software that supports V-ray
Photoshop
Step 1: Align Perspective
This is possibly the most tricky and frustrating part. Import the image into the background, and take your time to adjust the camera focal length to match perspective with the image. You might benefit from the video demonstration on our YouTube channel.
Step 2: Setup Light and Environment
Try to replicate the real-world setup as much as possible, including lighting and other walls in the scene. In our example, we placed a rectangular light to the right side to simulate a diffused light from the window and blinds.
Step 3: Shadow Matte
This is the magic material that will help us with the shadows. Create a generic material and a wrapper material. Use the generic material as the base, and use the following settings. Then you can apply the wrapper to the tabletop surface.
Step 4: Render in High Resolution + Save
Make sure to save it as a .png file to preserve transparency and shadow!
Step 5. Combine Rendering on Top of the Background Image in Photoshop
Place the rendering on top of the base image and make adjustments to help it blend in. In our case, we added a bit of color correction.
That’s all we got for today! Let us know how this came out for you and share it with our Instagram page by tagging @archi.hacks and #archihacks! I hope you found this article helpful, and if you have any tips for future students, please let us know in the comments below. Make sure to follow our YouTube and Instagram for more content!
Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Late Entry Deadline of March 25th, 2022. Submit a rendering.
Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022. Submit a rendering.
Renderings are more than simple computer-generated images; they tell a story and help us envision how a space feels, is used and interacts within the surrounding environment. Architizer’s annual Rendering Competition the inspiring and striking architectural ideas made possible by architectural visualization. This rendering challenge provides designers with an opportunity to showcase their individual talents and distinctive imaginations.
At its best, ArchViz allows designers to explore the expansive potentiality of what architecture can be through surreal imageries that engage with the absurd, the paradoxical, and escapism. Each of the eight renderings offers a dreamlike vision. Whether it be an idyllic setting, a fascinating paradox, or a dream-like scene, each rendering highlights the fantastical possibilities of bold utopic environments and pushes the boundaries of what an architectural rendering can be — a chance to escape reality.
Floating Vestiges by Timlok Li
Timlok Li’s rendering takes the viewer off-ground and into the sky. His rendering challenges the notion of architecture as permanent and site-specific, encouraging us to engage in the idea of impermanence. Floating Vestiges is hard to categorize as it flees from a defined architectural style. Instead, it embraces various styles and practices from different eras and periods. From American roadside architecture to imperial China, this floating structure is an amalgamation of historical periods and thus creates an inviting space for all walks of life.
The House of the Rising Sun by Bogdan Begmat
Bogdan Begmat’s paradoxical rendering is seemingly warm as it is brutalist. Made of poured concrete, this monolithic design boasts a warm brutalist aesthetic with a reflective façade. The rounded structure is at once muted through its monochrome appearance and, yet, defiant as it stands tall within the skyline. The building reflects onto the water surface below in what amounts to an almost subliminal effect. The juxtaposition of harsh and warm effects speaks to a surrealist aesthetic. Still, with the help of the surrounding peaceful landscape, a warm and inviting atmosphere is imagined.
Joint Structures by Nash Hurley, Jean-Pierre Monclin and Sonja Guth
A collaborative effort by three architects produces a rendering that responds to society’s ever-changing work culture. Remote work currently dominates over the traditional office space, and this change has required designers to pivot and evolve their practices. This rendered design concept imagines a healthy, functional, and environmentally-conscious workspace. It consists of a skyscraper made of a cluster of separate volumes, all of which are attached in a motif that creates a tree-like design. The workspaces within the structure offer ample daylight and access to fresh air, which encourages good work habits and good health. Moreover, the separated volumes are ideal for small workgroups while equally remaining connected to the others and thus creating a sense of communal belonging.
The Oasis by Nuno Salgueiro
Nuno Salgueiro’s rendering features a pyramid within the middle of a desert and reveals a surreal and oxymoronic design. It employs the traditional tomb structure — a space once used to commemorate the dead — but instead designs an environment for the living. The Oasis is a structure that provides shelter, rest, and a chance to appreciate the surrounding desert topography. The interior is a light spectacle, a space where visitors can appreciate the radiating sunlight that shines through a series of intricately-cut openings. The focal point is the grand staircase, which leads guests to the top of the pyramid and where they can contemplate the surrounding desert landscape.
ISAURA, A city that moves entirely upward by Maria Karim
Maria Karim’s city design takes inspiration from the works of Italian writer Italo Calvino. His imaginative writing and description of cities influenced Karim to design ISAURA, a city that is oriented upwards. Karim’s city design is built above a subterranean like — just as Calvino describes it to be. The lake provides residents with fresh drinking water and also houses many of the city’s gods. This unconventional city organization speaks to Calvino’s vivid imagination and excites our surreal senses.
The Crevasse by Yeong Joon Ko
Yeong Joon Ko’s light-filled gallery was intended for Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. The space is cubic, boxy and exudes a tranquil morning atmosphere. A series of box-shape volumes were assembled in such a way that creates an arched path that leads visitors to a public space below. A sequence of crevasses and cut-outs connect the space with the outdoors and allows streams of sunshine to brighten the interior space. The rectangular shapes work together with the soft beams of lights to create a calm and warm gallery space.
Enter the Garden by Zana Bamarni
Zana Bamarni’s rendering invites the viewer to a light-filled haven. Enter the Garden is designed to be a tranquil space where for those in need to escape their chaotic and often frustrating work lives. The structure consists of a rounded archway that is deeply ornamented and stands with grandeur. Shining through the archway is a radiating, almost blinding light. What lies beyond the archway is unknown, but the fierce light and large scale create a sense of mystery and a deep urge to explore what may be lying ahead.
Solivagant No More by Joe Parayno
Joe Parayno rendering embodies the widely-felt fear of the pandemic, the intense fatigue of isolation and the desperate desire to travel. This design consists of a home hitched on a giant balloon, which allows the structure to fly freely in the sky. This illustrative rendering depicts a hiker who comes across the flying house and joins the owner of the home on a traveling adventure. Both individuals connected over their shared urgency to travel and see the world. The home is a surreal take on the human necessity for freedom and mobility.
Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022. Submit a rendering.
A self-organising shelter that adapts to environmental stimuli and ceramic tableware designed to stimulate the senses are included in Dezeen’s latest school show by students at Birmingham City University.
Also included is a Russian recreational area designed as a multifunctional park to meet residents’ needs, and a chair that explores hair-based discrimination while celebrating black, afro and textured hair.
“A vibrant and inspiring learning community, the school identifies strongly with the civic university movement and has a dynamic and growing reputation in practice-led research, enterprise and knowledge exchange, encompassing disciplines across the scales from Product and Furniture through Interiors, Architecture, Urban Design (from September 2021) Landscape Architecture with cross-cutting courses in Design Management and Conservation of the Historic Environment.
“We deliver an outstanding and distinctive student experience and embrace a practice, research and knowledge-based approach to our teaching demonstrated by our KTPs, our innovative BA (Hons) Design for Future Living in partnership with George Clarke’s Ministry of Building Innovation and Education (MOBIE), our transdisciplinary collaborative Co.LAB live projects and Experimental Sustainability Studio initiatives.”
Heirs of Time by Laura Hastings
“Heirs of Time explores how the memories of local communities could be archived, restored and recollected through the ‘apparatus of the heirloom’. This thesis explores key themes of time, memory, depth and transformation. Following research and investigation into the changes of a Birmingham high street, the heirloom became a physical manifestation of the built environment.
“Programmatically, underground spaces have been developed to represent long-term, consolidated memories that are not so regularly recollected, functioning as archives and experience rooms. Instead of public-facing, the overground spaces represent short-term memories, those that are regularly made and forgotten.”
Student:Laura Hastings Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutors: Dr Matthew Jones, Matthew Hayes and Rebecca Walker Email: ljhastings-1@talktalk.net
Equilibrium 2.0 by Pasha Jeremenko
“Equilibrium 2.0 explores self-organising architecture and its adaptations to environmental stimuli. In an extreme climate, conventional architecture cannot sustain itself, which causes the architectural paradigm to shift – from static to dynamic.
“The designed shelter adapts itself to external conditions by working together with nature in its response. The equilibrium between the synthetic and the organic opens up more opportunities for evolving architecture. The evolution, in this case, appears in the form of the technological assembly of machines.”
Student:Pasha Jeremenko Course: BA(Hons) Architecture Tutors: David Capener, Amrita Raja, Bea Martin, Rob Annable and Ian Shepherd Email: pasha.jeremenko@outlook.com
How can the music industry rebuild in a post-pandemic environment while securing its future and maintaining its culture? by Azita Maria Rushton
“Access talent is a music industry tour programme that aims to create a supportive, coherent and connected professional journey for young music enthusiasts. The programme comprises three courses taught by industry professionals, hosted in grassroots music venues located in areas of high deprivation in the UK otherwise forgotten by industry and government.
“The programme features an initiative that offers opportunities provided by industry sponsors to work and study within the music. This concept was designed to address threats to the British music industry’s ecosystem, such as poor creative careers education, inequality in music education and lack of support for grassroots music venues.”
Student: Azita Maria Rushton Course: BA (Hons) Design Management Level 6 Top-up Tutors: Nicholas Irvin Email: azita-maria.rushton@mail.bcu.ac.uk
How can design innovation and digital technology be used to create the shopping experience of the future? by Nontawat Nowarit (Addy)
“Neo – X is the integration and utilisation of Augmented Reality (AR) technology in brick-and-mortar stores to reinvigorate retail shopping experiences of the future. The project explores the challenges and opportunities of how AR could be used in retail to enhance window shopping experience and entice customers to come back into physical stores after the pandemic. The concept demonstrates the promising use of AR in window shopping and how it could become a part of the new and enhanced in-store experiences of the future.”
Student: Nontawat Nowarit (Addy) Course: BA (Hons) Design Management Level 6 Top-up Tutors: Nicholas Irvin Email: Nontawat.Nowarit@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Box For Life by Luke Reynolds
“The Box For Life project is a national tiny home community network designed to bring the tiny home movement to urban cities. I have developed both the ultimate tiny home that can be purchased at an affordable price and a flagship community site on George Street in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
“It combats the growing economic issue that sees struggling young people attempt to juggle work and social lives whilst reaching for the property ladder. The project aims to increase ‘urban opportunity’ for people in a tiny home and sustainable living communities and attract a new generation of tiny dwellers.”
Student: Luke Reynolds Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design Tutors: Christopher Maloney and Josephine Bridges Email: Ljwreynolds@gmail.com
The Emporium of Possibility by Georgia Ruscoe
“This project aims to prepare for a post-pandemic world and become the key to the escapist dream-world that people so deeply desire. Its spatial strategy will disregard hierarchy and instead focus on forming an economy built on human communities.
“It enhances creative potential through the freedom of exploration, epistemic emotions and knowledge production. Providing people with the opportunity to explore their entrepreneurial aspirations whilst combating social and environmental issues. Its goal is to move away from fast output and stop the machine age, centring on the human again by forming an age of experience and creative exploration – something that cannot be automated.”
Student: Georgia Ruscoe Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design Tutors: Christopher Maloney and Josephine Bridges Email: georgiaruscoe@gmail.com
Comfort Valley Murmansk by Linyun Jiang
“Comfort Valley is a large recreational area outside the city centre of Murmansk, Russia. This innovative design provides an opportunity to identify and implement a vibrant multifunctional park area revitalisation that can meet local residents’ needs, increase the connection between people and the site, and enhance the community environment. It utilises the natural and climatic conditions of the Arctic with sustainable technical innovations in the form of warming huts dotted through the landscape, connected with green infrastructure.”
Student: Linyun Jian Course: BA (hons) Landscape Architecture, LI Tutors: Lucas Hughes, Eccles Ng, Dawn Parke and Rasha Sayed Email: Linyun.Jiang@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Regeneration Design in Tuanjie Village by Shiyun Huang
“This landscape-led urban redevelopment creates public space for residents to live, entertain and relax. There is a diversity of activities, forming active street venues which address nighttime and daytime uses. The Unity Village will be a “new life”, a “new symbol”, and a “new landmark”.
“Inspired by the symbolic language abstracted water-towns in the Yangtze River Delta, a new symbol of a Central Park with a series of dynamic connected spaces is created. It is a new landmark integrating traditional and contemporary characteristics, enlightened by the abstract artistic conception of courtyard and landscape forms.”
Student: Shiyun Huang Course: BA(Hons) Landscape Architecture Tutors: Lucas Hughes, Eccles Ng, Dawn Parke and Rasha Sayed Email: Shiyun.Huang@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Dolcio by Katarzyna Kozlowska
“Dolcio is a collection of experimental ceramic tableware developed in response to the study of gastrophysics – the scientific analysis of how our experience of food and drink is affected by our senses and surroundings.
“Carefully composed, this series of dessert plates stimulate the senses through colour, form and texture, increasing the sweet taste of puddings and creating a more positive and mindful eating experience. By using rounded tableware, users can reduce the amount of sugar used in dishes without compromising on the taste, therefore helping to promote healthier eating habits.”
Student: Katarzyna Kozlowska Course: BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design Tutors: Richard Underhill, Malcolm Hastings, Brian Adams and Natalie Cole Email: Katarzynakozlowskadesign@outlook.com
Zewadi by Katy Thompson
“Inspired by personal experiences growing up in a predominately white town and the Black Lives Matter movement, this chair explores hair-based discrimination and how design can celebrate black, afro and textured hair. Zewadi was designed as a functional and educational furniture piece, intended to initiate conversations surrounding this underrepresented issue.
“Zewadi uses textured black cork and rounded forms to represent black hair, whilst its throne-like scale brings empowerment to its users. Additionally, the gap in the headrest not only highlights the user’s hair but also reduces the risk of friction damage.”
Student: Katy Thompson Course: BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design Tutors: Richard Underhill, Malcolm Hastings, Brian Adams and Natalie Cole Email: Katyt1998@gmail.com
Cardboard Products for the Design Museum by Thomas Whiskens
“Taking inspiration from the ecological principle of the edge effect, the project questions and explores how design can respond to uncertainty with creativity and dynamism while recognizing its role in Fairbourne’s narrative.
“The proposition is to create a community-owned visitor destination, together with enabling landscapes, aimed at changing the collective mindset for Fairbourne, encouraging a vision for the territory as having multiple future identities and uses beyond the engineered utility topography.
“The spectrum of landscape systems and settings draw on the unique characteristics of the existing estuary topography, from the engineered edge of the seawall, through the shifting edge of marsh and wetland to the relic uplands.”
Student: Thomas Whiskens Course: Foundation/BA Product Design Tutors: Myles Cummings, Tom Tebby, Andrew Trujillo and Anastasiya Luban
LAxArch – Canal Side Regeneration Project by Matthew Harris
“This Landscape and Architecture project was based on a location within Birmingham’s sprawling canal network. The challenge was to rejuvenate an area of the Grand Union canal in Digbeth, rethink the landscape for people using the site, and provide a kiosk to find information or buy products. This piece of work shows a section through the site.”
Student: Matthew Harris Course: Foundation/BA Architecture Tutors: Myles Cummings, Tom Tebby, Andrew Trujillo and Anastasiya Luban
Grow your own highstreet by Anita Brindley
“Imagine if our cities could become closed-loop systems where all construction materials are produced and harvested just a few metres away from the site. This scheme aims to achieve this by reforesting our high streets. Through reforesting, timber becomes a local and sustainable material source that, during its growth, absorbs vast amounts of carbon dioxide.
“Over time, the timber grown on the high street can then be harvested by locals and used to develop the local surroundings. The high street no longer becomes made up of static objects but encompasses the active processes related to the community and ecology which inhabit and support its construction.”
Student: Anita Brindley Course: MArch Architecture (RIBA Pt.2), unit: Extinction Rebellion Architecture Tutors: Professor Rachel Sara and Elly Deacon Smith Email: anitalb24@gmail.com
The Pleasure Gardens by Chloe Luvena Dent
“Inspired by the Festival Pleasure Gardens in Battersea – one of the major exhibitions organised by the post-war Labour government during the Festival of Britain in 1951 to give the British a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of WW2.
“The thesis uses hedonistic ideas of pleasure based on Jeremy Bentham’s theories to create contemporary pleasure gardens as a response to the isolating and disengaging social constraints of Covid-19. Envisioned as a series of raised platforms above London, ‘socially undistanced’ moving gimbals, as well as ornate festival structures embedded within landscaped gardens, create an ambient and fun urban experience.”
Student: Chloe Luvena Dent Course: MArch Architecture (RIBA Pt.2), unit: arena Tutors: Alessandro Columbano and Valeria Szegal Email: chloedent09@gmail.com
Fairbourne 2070 – The New Gold Rush by David Mahon
“Given its position on a low-lying salt marsh, Fairbourne can no longer be protected from flooding with rising sea levels and increased risk of storms due to climate change. Fairbourne 2070 – the new gold rush is a project to relocate and design a new Fairbourne that is resilient to climate change and fit for social demands of the year 2070 and beyond, using the principles of a circular economy.
“The new gold rush does not take resources from the landscape. It reuses those that have already been extracted and replenishes those that have been depleted.”
Student: David Mahon Course: MA Landscape Architecture Tutors: Russell Good and Dr Sandra Costa Email: davidedwardmahon@outlook.com
Fairbourne – Landscape at the Edge by Sam Rule
“Taking inspiration from the ecological principle of the edge effect, the project questions and explores how design can respond to uncertainty with creativity and dynamism while recognizing its role in Fairbourne’s narrative. The proposition is to create a community-owned visitor destination, together with enabling landscapes, to change the collective mindset for Fairbourne, encouraging a vision for the territory as having multiple future identities and uses beyond the engineered utility topography.
“The spectrum of landscape systems and settings draw on the unique characteristics of the existing estuary topography, from the engineered edge of the seawall, through the shifting edge of marsh and wetland to the relic uplands.”
Student: Sam Rule Course: MA Landscape Architecture Tutors: Russell Good and Dr Sandra Costa Email: sam.rule@outlook.com
Forest Hub by Gertruda Blazaityte
“Forest Hub is a wood innovation centre bringing researchers, students, businesses, and local residents together to collaborate and share their passion and knowledge to build a healthier and more sustainable urban city. Forest Hub also provides the local community with a space to connect with nature – both indoors and outdoors along with private and spacious studios designed for multiple uses.
“The concept focuses on sustainable and innovative design solutions by using Biomimicry where biological strategies are being used to improve building’s energy efficiency and create a multi-sensory forest-like journey that brings the user closer to nature.”
Student:Gertruda Blazaityte Course: BA Interior Architecture and Design Tutors: Christopher Maloney and Josephine Bridges Email: blazaitytegertruda@gmail.com
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Birmingham City University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Chinese studio FOG Architecture has added curved walls, mirrored surfaces and faux stone to the interiors of aromatherapy brand ToSummer’s flagship store in Beijing.
Located in Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun shopping village, FOG Architecture designed the 170-square-metre ToSummer store to recall the atmosphere of a cave.
Top: a mirrored screen was placed at the entrance to the store. Above: the exterior of the store is covered in a textured faux stone
“The brand’s concrete requirement for this space design was a modern cave,” said FOG Architecture.
“We chose not to directly create the natural appearance of caves but, instead, presents the characteristic elements of material textures to inspire the sensory experience.”
The mirrored screen reflects passers-by and the interior of the store
The entrance to the store is marked by a large faux-stone wall and a mirrored screen, which leads visitors into the store.
The studio explained that the large mirrored screen was designed to draw passers-by into the store while referencing screens typically used in homes and domestic spaces.
Curving walls were used along the perimeter of the store
“The curiosity of what is behind attracts the beholders to walk inside,” FOG Architecture co-founder Zheng Yu told Dezeen. “The surface of the screen is usually decorated with an illustration of natural scenery.”
“It is a metaphor of the space hidden behind. And this is the reason we placed a scaled up, mirror polished screen as the central spatial element. It illustrates beauty in a restrained manner.”
The store was divided into multiple zones
Natural-toned, undulating walls envelop the interior of the store and are illuminated by strip lighting set within the ceiling.
The interior was divided and zoned into a collection of small sections each with its own functions, housing retail space, exhibition space and installation areas.
A cream Togo by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset, an off-white Playdough chair and coffee table by Karstudio as well as amorphous mirrors were placed throughout the store suggesting the idea of domestic space.
“The aim of the furniture is to convey a sense of the domestic,” said Yu. “That’s why we named this space a ‘Living Room’. A space that gives people a place to breathe in a busy and fast-moving shopping mall.”
A long metal island contrats with the softness of the store
Custom “timber rotten” chairs designed by British designer Max Lamb were also placed across the store and in niches formed by its curved walls.
“In a way, Max Lamb was also our main inspiration during the project,” Yu explained.
“The [chairs] lacquering was smooth, shiny and colourful while the foam is tortured, torn, scarred – combined the materiality itself gives me an illusion of heaviness similar to a piece of timber rotten through time, but it is lightweight and smooth and newly made.”
Shelves were built within the curving walls
An exhibition and retail space at the rear of the store has a series of shelves organised around a long reflective metal island that contrasts to the curving walls it is surrounded by.
Rectangular metal shelves were suspended along the undulating walls, drawing attention to the irregularity of the space while displaying products like artworks.
Two chairs designed by Max Lamb occupy the space
A metal cashier’s table was tucked behind a curving volume and mimics the shape of its walls, forming a rounded counter space that becomes an extension of the walls.
“[The store] transforms the original cave concept into spatial language, integrating it into this realistic space full of modern oriental feeling to present a delicate balance between commercial and art, domestic and public realm, natural and artificial,” said the studio.
The display areas were designed to showcase product like artwork
FOG Architecture is a studio with offices in London, Shanghai and Chongqing founded by Yu and Zhan Di.
Other Beijing projects with curved walls include this avocado-green space age informed hair salon and this kindergarten with a rooftop playground by MAD Architects.
Photography is by Inspace.
Project credits:
Design principle: Zheng Yu, Zhan Di Design team: Hou Shaokai, Zhou Chuyang, Xiong Aijie, Vince Choi and Fu Shidi Lighting design: School of Architecture, Tsinghua University and One Lighting Associates Beijing Furniture and installation design: DEFRONT and F.O.G. Construction drawing: SU PIN Construction team: Youlong Jinsheng Decoration Ltd.
An aquarium designed to protect marine biodiversity and a healing centre using horticultural techniques to help treat mental illness are included in our latest school show by architecture students at the Academy of Art University.
Other projects include a “public living room” that blends neighbourhood life with areas for privacy and a residential hub designed to enable economic self-sufficiency for residents.
School:Academy of Art University, School of Architecture Courses: M.Arch M.Arch2 B.Arch MA and BA Tutor: Mark Mueckenheim, David Gill, Nicole Lambrou, Sameena Sitabkhan, Eoanna Harrison, Philip Ra and Mini Chu
School statement:
“We are a progressive design laboratory of highly passionate students and a distinguished faculty of practising architects who work together to explore the boundaries of architecture. Our interactive onsite and online studio experience harnesses digital tools to mentor students throughout our rigorous curriculum.
“We offer an excellent design education by developing each student’s capacity to synthesise critical thought, architectural vision, and technical comprehension. Our programmes engage with current global issues, empowering students to be change-makers and leaders advocating for social equity. Our diverse international community enables us to propagate a unique cultural response to build a better world.”
Outer Mission Ramp Library – a knowledge connector for rapidly changing communities by Yi Hsien Rachel Wang
“The typology of library buildings has evolved throughout history, reflecting the changes in information systems and learning activities. By combining social, functional and environmental benefits, the thesis is projecting a new sustainable library typology as a prototype for a public learning infrastructure.
“The main conceptual idea is to design the library as a continuous ramp, connecting previously separated areas in the diverse local city fabric. The architectural intervention shortens the neighbourhood’s physical and social distances by combining pedestrian bridges, casual and formal learning infrastructure as a public living room for residents to gather, work, exercise and entertain.”
Student:Yi Hsien Rachel Wang Course: Master of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Mark Mueckenheim
Self-generating Architecture: Pier 28 by Valeryia Haletskaya
“The design for a hybrid aquarium and research-development centre at Pier 28 on the San Francisco waterfront employs organic, metabolic and self-generating materials. Artificial organisms – protocells that in time grow into artificial limestone – help to decrease levels of carbon dioxide while reinforcing the existing structure and building its sea-wall reef, skeleton, and envelope.
“Researchers, students and visitors share spaces for learning, interaction, and collaboration. The scheme offers protection for marine species and enhances biodiversity. The living architectural intervention is aimed as a long-term solution for coastal cities and other areas at risk from storms surges due to climate change.”
Student: Valeryia Haletskaya Course: Master of Architecture Thesis M.Arch Tutor: Mark Mueckenheim
Outer Mix Investigating mixed-use development as a means to fostering a healthy year-round community on the Outer Cape by Christian Fish
“A lack of affordable, year-round housing has become an urgent crisis on Cape Cod, afflicting low and middle-income families depending on a largely seasonal economy. Outer Mix imagines a new residential, social and economic hub on a 10-acre area in the Eastham Corridor Special District.
“Organised into four blocks repeated throughout the site, 95 residential units are combined with nearly 30,000 square feet of economic and social programming. This includes artist studios, co-working spaces, cafes, a library, daycare and community greenhouse. This programme mix enables economic and sustainable self-sufficiency and a community for residents.”
Student: Christian Fish Course: Master of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Nicole Lambrou
Eco-Tecture – Unifying Ecology with Architecture by Kevin Brady
“How can architecture enhance, improve and support educational and public awareness of the conservation and preservation of our local natural resources? Exposure and access to the elements of nature enliven the spirit, inspire curiosity, and encourages a ‘critical thinking’ response while promoting a healthy interactive lifestyle.
“This thesis seeks to determine how architecture could positively impact an ecological setting that strengthens community health, productivity, conservation and ecological awareness. This design approach engages user groups with the natural environment while preserving the ecological habitat.”
Student: Kevin Brady Course: Master of Architecture Thesis Tutor: David Gill
A Living Architecture by Aishwarya Naidu Bobbili
“This project is a healing centre incorporating earth and plants into its form and structure to create a holistic, sustainable space for wellness and rehabilitation. Farming, nature and architecture form a dialectic relationship. Horticultural techniques such as pleaching aid in the treatment of mental illness and serve as a therapeutic strategy.
“Located in Bakersfield, near Oil City in Kern County, California, the site is near the highest polluted city in the United States. The project aims to aid in healing people with a tranquil environment that incorporates sustainable and biophilic design.”
Student: Aishwarya Naidu Bobbili Course: Master of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Mark Mueckenheim
Unity Pavilion for Northridge Cooperative Housing by Naomi Rojas, Shunyi Yang, Dylan Ingle, Rhonuel Domingcil, Fabio Lemos, Corona Xiaohuan Gao, Malak Bellajdel, Kenta Oye, Jacob Delaney, Harikrishna Patel and Daniel Cervantes
“A design-build project by the B.Lab group, the pavilion fosters cooking, eating and storytelling within a community garden in the Hunters Point neighbourhood of San Francisco.
“Due to a lack of access to healthy, affordable food in the area, the pavilion integrates counters, benches, and a movable kitchen table for cooking demonstrations using produce directly from the garden, while a series of frames offer shade and a vista of the bay.
“The design was derived from several communities and youth workshops together with feedback from garden volunteers, and the pavilion was measured and tested on full-scale prototypes before construction.”
“The project investigates the relationship between the sacred and the political, and the role of the autonomous citizen therein. Sign-up sheets are simple yet contractual.
“Where public services are exchanged, they are activating devices bringing citizens together to achieve common goals. Sacred architecture has been a beacon of alternative governance by becoming places of refuge and political action.
“This thesis frames those events as distinct from the economic agenda of neoliberalism. Sign-Up Sheet reimagines the site with an urban sanctuary in San Francisco’s Tenderloin where non-profit staffs and community members live and work in a hub of collective activity.”
Student: Daniel Joonhee Lee Course: Bachelor of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Philip Ra and Mini Chu
Kid of Parts for the Bayview Commons Apartments by Adam Nuru, Markish Siojo, Dylan Ingle, Fabio Lemos, Xiaohuan Corona Gao
“Through a series of community events at the Bayview Commons Apartments, an affordable housing community in San Francisco, we learned that residents wanted an active, intergenerational, and flexible space that allowed for relaxation, interactive play and community events.
“Our final design incorporates a set of flexible, movable furniture that can be set up in different configurations. Intergenerational play, imagination, and socializing are emphasized through the design of different panels on the modular pieces. The colourful groundscape is coded to give clues for spatial use and provide a vibrant surface that complements the colours of the wall mural.”
“Urban planning in San Francisco has confined ethnic neighbourhoods to inhuman spaces. My ancestral heritage includes the repeated displacement of the Japanese community to unwanted or forgotten territories.
“The design reveals the lost layers of the site – where the first Japan town took root in 1900 – by activating the alleys, offering a cultural centre that borrows from museum and immigration centre programmes.
“The act of making was the catharsis that enabled this community to cope creatively. Ceramic, wood, and sewing galleries are paired with adjacent workshops, providing spaces to congregate, exchange ideas and share experiences through craft.”
Student:Kenta Oye Course: Bachelor of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Philip Ra and Mini Chu
Urban Living Room by Zoe Qiaoyu Zheng
“The project brings neighbourhood life into public space while blurring boundaries and creating conditions of privacy. Public programmes and varied open spaces blend traditional library and private spaces with adjacent buildings.
“The design responds to natural light, wind, and views but also create opportunities to block visual contact with adjacent residences. People are welcome to celebrate their time here, and the architecture makes invisible boundaries to protect their personal space as needed.
“This is not just a library or another place to hang out; the proposal also provides opportunities for people to safely interact in acceptable proximities.”
Student: Zoe Qiaoyu Zheng Course: Bachelor of Architecture Thesis Tutor: Philip Ra and Mini Chu
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Academy of Art University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
The mid-century architecture and roadside diners of the American west informed the interior of this nostalgic hamburger restaurant in Paris designed by CUT Architectures.
Located in Paris’s Citadium – a multi-brand department store on Boulevard Hausmann that is focused on lifestyle, streetwear, and sneaker culture – PNY Citadium is the hamburger chain’s seventh opening in the city.
Top image: yellow booth seating has a mid-century look. Above: marquee lettering announces the menu
Paris studio CUT Architectures – which previously designed PNY’s first, second, third and fourth outposts – was invited back to create this location around the theme “electric tropical diner”.
The interior, which features neon tube lighting, aluminium walls and embossed stainless steel, seeks to capture the “vivid and unique” energy of America’s West Coast.
Bar stools are paired with circular tables
In particular, the architects looked to the mid-century architecture of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, the Palm Springs’ houses of Albert Frey, and Palm Desert sunsets.
Set out over 75 square metres, the 51-seat restaurant is headed up by a curved crenellated aluminium bar that lines the back wall.
The back of the bar is clad in aluminium while overhead a retro lightbox sign that displays the menu wraps around the top.
The crenellated aluminium bar reflects light across the restaurant
“The place is conceived as an architectural parenthesis set in the Citadium; a roadside diner whose bar is clad in crenellated aluminium like a longhaul truck crossing the United States,” said CUT Architectures.
“The back bar is dressed in embossed stainless steel with a radiant pattern that increases the reflections.”
Seating is laid out over a series of classic diner booths with banquette seating, as well as a series of tall bar tables and stools.
The booths are positioned along the entrance to the department store and lined with large circular glass panels, lit by rows of warm neon tubes that fade from yellow to orange and pink.
Sun-like panels were placed at the ends of tables for privacy
Designed to recall the setting sun on the Pacific Ocean, the panels provide privacy for diners and create a visual boundary between the restaurant and the rest of the department store.
“To achieve the specific hues and quality of light we wanted we used old school signage neon tubes instead of LED lights,” the studio told Dezeen.
Sunset hues reflect off the surfaces
The bases of the taller tables are made from large steel cylinders lacquered in a faded yellow hue.
The cylinders pierce through glossy white circular tabletops to create planter centrepieces that are filled with arid vegetation native to the Californian desert.
Other sunset-informed eatery designs include designer Yota Kakuda’s sunset-hued counter installed within a Tokyo cheese tart shop.
While in a Hong Kong cafe, architecture firms Studio Etain Ho and Absence from Island pay homage to Australia’s spectacular sunsets with a terracotta colour scheme and semi-circular forms.
Thinking of using stone in your project? Our latest Dezeen guide includes 15 popular types of natural rock used in architecture, interiors and design with links to hundreds of examples to inspire your own work.
Alabaster
Alabaster is a soft, fine-grained stone that has been used for centuries to carve elaborate forms and ornaments. However, its solubility in water means that it is best suited for indoor use.
In its pure form, alabaster is white and translucent, which makes it ideally suited to lighting design.
Studio Tack used tubular light shades made from alabaster to softly illuminate a cosy Japanese restaurant in New York (above), while lighting studio Allied Maker used the stone to create ornate totemic floor lamps.
Amarist Studio showcased the sculptural possibilities of the stone in its Aqua Fossil collection, which includes a coffee table with swooping, curved legs.
See projects featuring alabaster ›
Basalt
Basalt is a dark-coloured igneous rock that is formed when lava cools rapidly. It is most frequently used as an aggregate for concrete as it is low-cost and high-strength, but it is also a popular cladding and flooring material, especially when polished.
Examples of this include the facade of a small gallery in Amsterdam by Barend Koolhaas and a Hawaiian holiday home by Walker Warner Architects in which slender basalt cladding tiles are contrasted with cedar detailing (above).
Icelandic studio Innriinnri used two sculpted slabs of basalt stone to create a sculptural table that doubles as a stool or a piece of art, while South Korean artist Byung Hoon Choi polished the stone to create oversized outdoor furniture.
See projects featuring basalt ›
Flint
Flint is a highly durable stone found in abundance as irregular-shaped nodules in sedimentary rocks such as chalk. It has been used as a construction material since the Roman era, though it is not often seen in contemporary architecture.
Flint varies in colour, but it is commonly glassy black with a white crust. In architecture, it is usually knapped – split to expose its glossy inner face – before being laid in mortar.
Skene Catling de la Peña used a combination of knapped and unknapped flint to cover a wedge-shaped house in Buckinghamshire (above), which creates a subtle colour gradient across its facade.
See projects featuring flint ›
Gneiss
Gneiss, a robust metamorphic stone composed of alternating layers of different coloured minerals, is popular to use for flooring and worktops. Hues can range from pinks and golds to greens and dark greys.
Peter Pichler sourced grey gneiss with black-and-white bands from Passeier Valley in South Tyrol to create a large counter in the bar of an Italian Alpine hotel (above).
It can also be used as a cladding material, such as in Bernardo Bader Architekten’s ski resort office in Austria and a radio broadcasting station in Nepal by Archium.
Granite
Granite is one of the most widely used stones in architecture and design. It forms from the slow crystallisation of magma beneath the Earth’s crust. It is used for everything from load-bearing structures to cladding, worktops and furniture.
Its popularity is down to its high compressive strength, durability and low porosity. Granite is also found in an array of colours, making it suitable for a range of spaces and styles.
Heatherwick Studio recently used green granite to make a trio of its sculptural Spun chairs (above), while Snøhetta has used a grey variety to cover almost every surface of an Aesop store to emulate a rocky coastline.
Architecture studio NOARQ tested the material’s strength by elevating a cabin on thick blocks of granite over the entrance to a stone villa in Portugal.
See projects featuring granite ›
Laterite
Rusty-red laterite stone is formed from the leaching of rocks and soil during alternating periods of high temperature and heavy rainfall in tropical areas. This process leaves behind a high concentration of insoluble iron oxides, which gives the rock its colour.
Laterite is typically used in construction in Africa and Asia in the form of bricks, which have excellent thermal mass and a low embodied energy. These bricks are made by cutting the rock out from below the water table when it is moist and leaving it to harden in the air.
Architect Francis Kéré used locally sourced laterite to build the walls of a school in Burkina Faso and Studio Lotus has used it to create the pedestal of a government building in India (above).
Limestone
There are many different types of limestone, a sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate. It is considered a good all-round building material as it is easy to cut and carve and usually has a uniform texture and colour.
Popular limestone varieties include travertine (see below) and Portland stone, which is used on notable buildings in London such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.
David Chipperfield Architects recently used limestone to clad the Kunsthaus Zurich museum extension in Switzerland and John Pawson used it to line the surfaces of a minimalist flagship store in Japan for fashion label Jil Sander.
Design projects that utilise limestone include a blocky furniture collection called Dig Where You Stand by students from the Estonian Academy of Arts (above).
See projects featuring limestone ›
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock with veins of calcite crystal. It forms from limestone that has been exposed to heat and pressure and is found in many colours. Marble is strong but easily carved and polishes well, making it suitable for numerous applications.
It is most popularly used in kitchen and bathroom designs, but it is often used as cladding too, such as in Alexander Owen Architecture’s garden room in London (above).
Onyx is a translucent gemstone composed of parallel bands of quartz, found in almost every colour. It has a long history of use in sculpture and jewellery but is less commonly found in architecture and design. However, onyx is sometimes used as a facing or lighting.
Projects that use onyx include a mausoleum in Minneapolis by HGA and an office by Anne Claus Interiors where it has been used to clad a multi-coloured bar (above).
Porphyry is a strong and hard-wearing igneous stone that comes in reddish-brown to purple hues. It is composed of large-grained crystals embedded in a fine-grained groundmass.
It has been used in architecture and design since antiquity, though it is rarely seen in contemporary architecture and design. Today it is mostly used as aggregate in the construction of roads in places where cars require studded winter tires.
Pedevilla Architects used a block of porphyry as a kitchen island for a cookery school in South Tyrol, while architect Claudio Silvestrin used it to line the walls of a Milanese fashion boutique.
Quartzite
Formed from sandstone exposed to high heat and pressure, quartzite is a very hard and durable metamorphic rock. It is usually found in white and grey shades.
Quartzite is a popular material for kitchen countertops as it is resistant to staining, but is most commonly used as a decorative cladding or flooring.
Examples of this include a dwelling in Utah by Klima Architecture, Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals spa (above) and a monolithic Parisian library by Agence Pascale Guédot.
See projects featuring quartzite ›
Sandstone
Sandstone is composed of fine silicate grains that have eroded from other rocks, giving it either a warm red, yellow or orange colouration.
Used for construction since prehistoric times, sandstone continues to be a popular choice in architecture and design as it is abundant, durable and easy to handle.
Recent architectural projects that use the material include a cathedral extension by Feilden Fowles, a museum by Álvaro Siza, and an oval-shaped all-girls school in India (above) that is designed to blend into its desert surroundings.
See projects featuring sandstone ›
Shale
This grey fine-grained stone is one of the most common sedimentary rocks on earth. It is formed from the compaction of silt and mud into thin, fissile layers. In architecture and design, shale is usually crushed and processed into bricks, tiles and pottery, or heated with limestone to make cement.
Aketuri Architektai used shale tiles to clad a pointy woodland house in Lithuania (above), while Spaceworkers wrapped the stone around the basement of a Portuguese house to provide it with a raw, rugged aesthetic.
See projects featuring shale ›
Slate
Slate is a dark fine-grained stone that is formed when a sedimentary rock, such as shale, is subjected to high pressure. It is a foliated rock, meaning it is made up of thin sedimentary layers, which allows it to be split – or riven – into thin slabs.
Slate is durable and weather- and frost-resistant, making it a popular material choice for cladding, roofing and paving.
In interior projects, the material is often also used as floor tiles, hearths and kitchen worktops. Natalie Weinmann sanded and polished the stone to create a blocky furniture collection.
TRIAS used it to clad a small writer’s retreat in a Welsh valley while Austin Maynard Architects diamond, scalloped and brick-shaped slate shingles to cover a Melbourne house (above).
See projects featuring slate ›
Travertine
One of the most commonly used forms of limestone is travertine, which has been sourced from mineral springs for use as a building material for centuries. The largest building in the world made from this stone is the Colosseum in Rome.
Today, travertine is mostly processed into tiles for internal and external surface coverings, but it is also a popular material for bathroom fit-outs. As it is found with troughs on its surface, processing travertine usually involves polishing its surface.
Projects that use travertine include an extension to a German museum by Bez + Kock Architekten (above), an apartment renovation in Lithuania by 2XJ, and a furniture collection by David/Nicolas.
See projects featuring travertine ›
Recent popular stone projects on Dezeen include an inconspicuous house on the island of Serifos, a monolithic spa by Smartvoll, a collection of luxury lodges on England’s Jurassic Coast and a coffee table by Studio Twenty Seven.
The main image is of Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School by Diana Kellogg Architects taken by Vinay Panjwani.
Step 2: Setup Light and Environment
Step 2: Setup Light and Environment
Step 3: Shadow Matte
Step 3: Shadow Matte
Step 4: Render in High Resolution + Save
Step 4: Render in High Resolution + Save
Step 5. Combine Rendering on Top of the Background Image in Photoshop
Step 5. Combine Rendering on Top of the Background Image in Photoshop
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