Over recent years, digital media for architectural design has given way to a multitude of different 3D room design tools. As such, tools like 3D Studio Max, Rhino, Revit and now Twinmotion2 have entered the design field giving architects a new sort of “pen” with which to virtually “ink” their designs, not only to benefit their own design process — but to more quickly produce 3D room design still visualizations and walk-throughs to communicate...

New technologies like mobile laser scanners are making it easier to capture greater detail of real-life 3D space in a fraction of the time it would normally take to mentally deconstruct, document and virtually render those spaces for either architectural contract documents or for an architectural visualization. Such technologies, as they advance, are helping architects to bring back to the office what they observe on the field — particularly helpful if working to design a project...

I think it is interesting for you as an architect to take a look at another dimension of something you use everyday — the computer. More specifically, think of how you typically work to design your own visualizations of a building design for the future.

Perhaps you start with real world challenges and work backwards from them to come up with your masterpiece. But what if, instead, you could just have a “design playground” of sorts, in which to hone your design skills and let...

Throughout your architectural design process it is often the case that you need different tools at different points in time as you design. While some tools help you to visualize what goes on during your personalized architecture process, others help you to visualize what will go on within your final building design. So, what happens when these two worlds start to merge? Will your design visualizations be as immersive as the actual methods you use to communicate your designs to clients...

When designing, do you begin with a preconceived idea of what your final design will look and feel like? Do you gain inspiration and insight from things that surround you, like nature or someone else’s design? Or do you start a design not knowing what your own creative process will give birth to? In other words ——

As you design do you work toward an “end vision” or do you take on a more “experimental” design approach where you test design outcomes? Do...

Featured Image Takeaway Design Strategy:

While the above photograph isn’t of a building (it is a metro sign), it suggests what may lie ahead for urban architecture. What if your building could communicate with observers in entirely new ways? Your architectural exterior skin could announce or respond to changes in weather, urban events, or even changing trends made available through the internet. Suddenly, your building becomes a beacon — that perhaps behaves differently from day...

Featured Image Takeaway Design Strategy:

When preparing your design concept, do you ever look beyond your site to study nearby design alignments? As the image above shows, architectural design alignment can be visual as the obelisque visually connects with the Eiffel Tower. But you might not simply stop there. What about aural alignments? Are there certain sounds that you wish your architecture could connect to? For instance, in certain towns, church bells and traffic can...

Featured Image Takeaway Design Strategy:

When you design architecture, are you aware of the visual layers which you create? Now, rarely is a work of architecture viewed in pure elevation in the real world — so studying the three-dimensional layering within your design could result in some amazing effects. For instance, layering often leads to rhythm and/or transparency (depending on design form and placement). And with rhythm and transparency, you can create depth, texture,...

Featured Image Takeaway Design Strategy:

As you design your architecture, notice not only the common vantage points, where your occupants look straight ahead as they travel through your building, but also vantage points like when they look upward. While occupants don’t often look upward while walking through your building — you may want to reward them for being just curious enough to look in other directions: upward, left, right, and downward. Remember your occupants aren’t...

Featured Image Takeaway Design Strategy:

When you design your architecture, give attention to the way you engage neighboring buildings. Pay attention to the proximity between your building and theirs, and find ways to respond — whether by using contrast, juxtaposition, or paralleling. Also, give attention to the surrounding culture and context where your building will reside. Understand problem areas that neighboring buildings create for the community, for you may try to solve for those...