Andrew F. Scott: Week 7 Inspiration: Context

Evolo2010: Mixed-Use Skyscraper in Damascus:

Special Mention
2010 Skyscraper Competition

Rocky Marchant, Ergin Birinci
United Kingdom

As I anxiously await the results of the 2011 Evolo Skyscraper competition I decided to write a post to provide some inspiration for week 7 of the quarter. We need to begin to turn our attention to the context and place of our architectural visualizations. This entails two main ideas, The integration of our structure into its hardscape environment. Don't be happy with just a flat ground plane for your design. The plan view is an important view and it can be used to heighten the sense of realism in your design. Consider the overall landscape and hardscape elements that set the stage for your composition.

Nested Skyscraper in Tokyo

Third Place

2010 Skyscraper Competition

Ryohei Koike, Jarod Poenisch
United States

The second consideration is how your object will integrate with the its environment from the site and pedestrian view. There are several choices you will need to make. The most import choice will be whether the elements are created digitally or will you combine them with photographic backplates. Each of these approaches entails it own set of compositing decisions that will need to be made in order to create a believable illustration. You may also choose to do a combination of both. What both approaches share in common in how EMPHASIS will be used to integrate or separate your structure from its environment.

In the illustration above the integration of the skyscraper into its environment is achieved by using a monochromatic palette. Color is used in the trees to create a sense of depth in the composition. The emphasis is established by the contrast of the biomorphic nature of the skyscraper and the geometric nature of the surrounding buildings. Sky Bridge by Violeta Sabaliauskaite, Lukas Gadeikis presents another example of this compositional strategy.


Sky Table – A Social Implant

Special Mention
2010 Skyscraper Competition

Ayrat Khusnutdinov of Russia employs color to create emphasis in the Sky Table – A Social Implant architectural visualization above. This is a very effective method for separating what you want the viewer to see and what is background within the image. You can see how the sky shader and color can be combined using computer generated elements to create a realistic visualization. Note also how different levels of detail are also used to establish context.

Art of Building High – Skyscraper in Paris

ATELIER ZÜNDEL ET CRISTEA by Gregoire Zündel, Irina Cristea, Nicolas Souchko, Mario Russo of France uses color effectively integrate their architectural visualization into it's environment. This provides the approach that creates the most realistic renderings especially when we consider context. Yet the question always remains is this the most effective way to communicate the ideas and forms that tell the story of our structures. The Strait of Messina Skyscraper by Maurizio Pino, Filomena Francesca Pastore of Italy employs the same strategy of color integration into their architectural visualization. To this they also use focus to separate the building structure from its environment.

Consider these approaches as we move forward. The images used in this post were cited from the 2010 Evolo Skyscraper Competition. Please go there to review more that will help provide guidelines for you compositions as we move forward.