20 Architectural renders that break the mold

It takes a lot of talent to turn an object mostly comprised of right angles into something you could call ‘art’, but that’s exactly what this post is about. Today I present you with a list of the most beautiful architectural renders the internet has to offer. They weren’t made in Blender, but every one of them is inspiring and worth checking out.

20. Rem Koolhaas Bordeaux House by Dimitar Rashkov

19. Restaurant by the sea by Stefano Di Noia

18. 0528 by Mike Johnson

17. Forest Refuge by Alex Roman

16. Phillips Exeter Academy Library by Alex Roman

15. Naoshima by Alex Roman

14. Four Cubes Business Centre by Azuolas Juskenas

13. Church on the water by Karuna Karan

12. Office building at night by Viktor Fretyán

11. Dormitory by Viktor Fretyán

10. Row House by Viktor Fretyán (designed by Tadao Ando)

9. Interior in a classical style by Viktor Fretyán

8. House at the beach by Viktor Fretyán

7. House by Viktor Fretyán (designed by Satoshi Okada)

6. With view on the river by Sébastien Gaudard

5. Brosmith Residence by Sébastien Gaudard

4. Exterior Test Scene by Michal Konwicki

3. Kitchen in big house by Stanislav Orekhov

2. Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House by Alessandro Prodan

1. Ras-Al Khaimah by MIR Visuals

Have I missed anything? Which piece do you like most and why? Post your comment below!

Tags: inspiration

About Andrew Price

User of Blender for 9+ years. I've written tutorials for 3d World Magazine and spoken at three Blender conferences. My goal is to help artists get employed in the industry by making training accessible and easy to understand. I'm an Aussie and I live in South Korea ;)

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Hpls

Hi guys, does anyone know who’s design no. 11 is? Would appreciate your answer
Vincent

Amazing!!
gerard

Hello, I think some of examples are nice but I can show you my fav: http://trzytrzytrzy.carbonmade.com/projects/4619939#1 it’s missed.
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Colin

Hey there, I know that this post was awhile ago, but if there is anyway you could let me know what software was used for the Brosmith Residence as well as the With View On The RIver that’d be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
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http://Kraków stehr

The challenge for some of these were not only to make a good render, but to visualise a project. It is much harder to create a beauty thing then make a picture of it.
http://www.timothyadowns.com Timothy Downs

#3 because of the extensive detailed work and #1, first image because of the composition
Matthew

Is number 18 not a real building as used in Transformers – Dark of the moon? I have to say 20 and 4 are my favourites, I think because the architecture is not the main focal point.
didier

I think Ras-Al Khaimah is the best because it has alot of architecture in it and still the lightning looks real.
http://thio.cgarena.com/ Mario Camarillo

I will say something that many people will feel under attack.

The point is this I have seen many blender users who still does not understand hwo light behaves and think that only putting some lamps will get good results please people blender has very good renders does not matter what software you use, if you do not have the theory you will not have good results.

And I will be very very clear I am not the best Cg artist but please think about what I said and please visit http://www.blenderartist http://blenderartists.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?27-Forum-Gallery and http://www.blender.pl/cpg/index.php You will find very interesting renders and please be humble you critic have feedback vist websites like c society cgcookie blenderguru etc etc etc
Nicholas

They are all excellent examples of modelling, but most of them are not works of art; the architects responsible for the original creations – the buildings – now some of those definitely fall into that catagory.

12, 13 and 16 are truly outstanding. Number 1 is also extremely good, the first shot in particular.

19 is the worst, it says, hotel brochure, to me.

Certainly, the lightling in them all is outstanding.

Number 20, there I see a story trying to be told – almost, but not quite.
Crimson

The renders and composites are very impressive, but… ugh. I’ve never really understood the appeal of those sterile, Weber-esque slabs, no matter how oddly interposed.

Just me, apparently. But I do hope that trend goes the way of the dodo sooner than later.
http://www.2pm-visuals.co.uk Mat

Good list. Thanks for the post. Some of these are fantastic
http://www.marclorenz.com Marc Lorenz

It’s clear that you are no architect, and you are not working in the archviz industry.
All the images you posted, except to some degree 12, 5, 4, 1 are not archviz renders, because of the simple fact that they do not visualize architecture.
Take img 20, do you think any client is going to let you blur his building and focus on grass clusters?
Archviz is about visualizing architecture, for documentation or marketing purposes, if you like it or not. Of course most buildings are “boring” or “ugly”, this is because there are real world considerations (costs, costs, costs) that are stronger than aesthetics.
Most of this eye candy pseudo-archviz images that are so popular now are more about vegetation rendering, than about architecture. Nothing wrong with that, but it wont get you a job, because everyone in the industry knows that there is no way to complete such a project in max. 2-3 days, which is the timeframe that you’ll usually get.
For examples of real world archviz, but still artsy, this are my favorites: http://www.luxigon.fr/
Frika

Very goog stuff so far… but I think its time to update. For now it is a good start to be a nice collection of state of the art renderings and beyond. Have a look at Peter Guthrie, Betrand Benoit, etc…
If this here would grow up to a master collection I would come back here quite often
Greets
gautam

I liked farnsworth huse renders. The quality of the rendering respects Mies’ understanding of imparting beauty. BTW, architecture is an art coming from within, it is never boring, infact every single element has a story to tell, u just need to have time to discover it. But , we have to be aware all the times, of the reality and its scopes so as to balance the process of creativity with possibility. Its a live-standing art.
Nick Glasson

I beleive that the statement about the architecture being boring is very true, but this is also determined by the weather, the enviroment and landscape the architecture is set in and the limitd style of architecture dues to the requirements for it to work with its enviroment, if this makes any sense to anyone. Just moving to the city myself i find alot of buildings around this city (Auckland) are very plain and repeated in terms of the angles, shapes and proportions of the designs. which brings me to another factor of the proportion, in the city everything is big and tall where i am currently living, nothing seems to be unique about alot of the buildings or structures. I think that these are important factors to bare in mind when looking at architecture.
Matt

I like all of them, but I’m curious as to what makes #19 special? It looks pretty bland to me. Love the others, though!
Douglas

Most of these renders you will find at the evermotion website,
I recommend you guys to take a look, and most of these renders are done with 3ds max+vray, or cinema 4d+vray.

I must say, you cannot get these results without a good render like vray or mentalray, does not matter the software.
that´s the reason you can´t achieve these results with Blender, because
Blender doesnt have a good renderer.
http://dmmatelix.blogspot.com Matelix

Whoa 0_o… if you had to show me these without telling me that they are renders, I would definitely believe that they are real. Amazing stuff. A job well done to the artists
rhlatrop

Is this level of realism possible with blender?
I have never seen something this real with blender before.
Aditya

Great to see the reach of the human quality… to show the creative identity of work….
Kewl Luser

amazing article… u sure picked the best… i could hardly discernthe slight 3d look i normally pick up on renders… they are so realistic!!! awesome!!

thanks
blaise onction

Great !!! but where can we find more ways to improve render on blender .
John A.M.

WOW are you sure all of those are renders not photos?
kidding
titaniumpen

I don’t agree with most of the rankings, but nevertheless the renders are all impressive. It would be nice for the artists to add some people – some of the renders look too cool.
simon

The level of rendering shown here is something I aspire to. I have done a lot of work with Revit (without Max the old accurender results were mundane at best), and work with Sketucp and Kerkythea, also without a lot of post processing the results I have achieved are, well, pedestrian at best. Hence me learning Blender (though still a total nood WRT “precision modelling”).

On the topic of Architecture being borning. I think a lot of architecture is mundane and functional and driven by budget rather than art. However, great architecture does enhance our lives through our interaction and experience of it.

BTW Andrew, thanks for all the tuts, watching your videos shows me just how un-fluent I am with Blender so far, yet you inspire me to get to that level of control.
Petronius

Well, off Topic I´d say, I live in Germany in a country cottage, but I really don´t like it. I need people all around me. Everyone needs a contrast
BTT: Okay, the Renders are well, but the buildings shown are not very excellent. Only the ones like the Exeter library and the house designed by Satoshi Okada. Those are good: Good Model, good Render

Greets
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zak mensh

would you make a tutorial how to render this Awesome rendering lease ?!

Thanks .. it’s an amazing collection indeed
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hanksan

First of all… these rendering are quite remarkable. Beautiful and thought provoking! Thank you for showing them.

On the topic of “Architecture being boring!” Yes, many building are indeed boring, but that does not mean that architecture is boring in general. Many can’t fathom the complexity involved in creating a typical building… let alone for a unique piece of art like many depicted here.

I understand how some may only see the mundane in architecture, but there are many that can move the soul! Architecture is an art of space and time. Although mostly seen in 2D, one must “Be” in the space to truly appreciate it. These renderings in my opinion are so great because they get close to placing the viewer in that space… vicariously standing before it, smelling, hearing and feeling the surroundings. That is what truly makes a great rendering. Going beyond the “boring” and striving for the profound.

I am passionate about architecture. Unfortunately many in the field are not and do create the uninspired environment riddling our landscape. These renders achieve the magnificent! Thank you for sharing!
Andy

There’s another resource for great architecture renderings. Check out this site:

http://www.luxigon.com/images/
http://www.silverhaze.com Ron Martin

Architecture is very far from being boring. It’s a science and an art and is directly related to our human body and the way we spend our life.

Its hardly understandable why anybody would say something like this.
peaceman

these are some good renderings but a lot are built modern classic houses. so photo references are available and the focus is often just the mood of the picture. i find it much harder more interesting to create a great image of something that does not exist, that you have to fight about with your clients, creating a look and not only trying to copy nature….

but i agree mostly great, great renderings and good material for learning, learning, learning….
http://segocarib.cgsociety.org/ sebastien

Hi,

I dont know for the other renderings, but mines are made only with 3dsmax.
Cheers

Segocarib
Nixon

all of those renders are really fine works of art,
some look a lil better like the farnsworth house but i guess it’S just personal preference …
some of those originals I seen in books ( at least I think i did )
on modern architecture of the 60′s and 70′s wich was kinda sublime by itself ,
i kinda miss one wich is hangin off a cliff:D…but thats just a good idea to try it out myself…compared to those its gonna be an epic phail lol…

cool pics Mr. Price!
Mike

I’d be interested in knowing which ones don’t look realistic but more specifically why because each made ‘for a lack of better words at the moment’ sense. I actually didn’t delve deep into each but just imagined each ones unique effect between architecture and nature and I see how each in their own way can be real.

Who was it that once quoted “Some people see things as they are and say why, but I see things that aren’t so and ask why not” Kennedy I believe.

Thanks again Andrew Price for another good posting. Hey after seeing the nice work you did with that article on texturing that grass with blender, I think you can make some kind of nice mixture yourself embodying nature and architecture. I hope next post you have regarding such great artform should be from blender users…
Woodge

I really like #19 Restaurant by the sea. Very intimate.
Ludde

Some of them are ok..but some of them are not very realistic

Jurek

dude, I thing you couldnt do anything in that level so shut your mouth

kilon

“‘architecture is boring” , . “But I will agree that some buildings are very beautiful.”

So what you are trying to say is that BAD architecture is boring. I agree.
http://www.burnstudio.co.za Nic Bischoff

Thanks for the list – there were a few I haven’t seen before.
http://blenderguru.com Andrew Price

Hi apathysuperstar,
My statement that ‘architecture is boring’, merely reflects on my own impression on living in a city. When you see huge tall buildings everyday of your life, it starts to look ugly. But I will agree that some buildings are very beautiful.

@Lisa RM No, in fact none of these renders were created with Blender. I chose renders from all walks of software (mostly 3ds Max) to broaden the scope of entries.

Thanks for your input guys!
apathysuperstar

I dont understand the statement “Architecture on its own is boring.” since of the renders you have chosen the most successful and believable are simply digital recreations of buildings that exist.

These renderings are amazing, but I think you are undrestimating the Art which was created by the Architect, their choice of materials, and the right angles.
Lisa RM

Wow! They are all amazing. Are they all done strictly w/Blender. I’m still learning and trying, but clearly not even coming close this level of reality.

Nick

at least the renders of alex roman are not made with blender, but i don’t know about the others