I stumbled on some renderings of the proposed new University of Buffalo Medical School, which inspired me to write this piece. The renderings are the same images we have seen printed and posted everywhere, except this time, a click on the image thumbnail opened a super high-resolution version of the computer generated illustrations. It is highly unusual to get access to renderings at this kind of resolution. Normally, they are released for low quality news print or web browsing, good enough to get the point across, but not usually good enough to answer all the questions you might have about a project. The higher resolution gave me answers to several questions I had about the building design, but also, more interestingly, it revealed some of the tricks of the rendering trade.
Architects, of which I am one, use sketches and renderings for many different reasons, all of which are tied to communicating an idea, whether that be to the client, a funder, potential tenant, or to yourself as the architect. Drawing and visualizing are at the core of architectural design and the sale of architectural concepts. I use my own sketches on yellow tracing paper to drag an idea out of my head. If a concept seems to have merit we will build a 3D computer model to “prove” the concept to ourselves and then to the client. Back in the day, prior to easy computer rendering, we had to have much more faith in our ideas because we could not easily look at every aspect of a design from every angle as we can now. Today you can see a concept in images that are pretty much as good as a photograph with every pipe, duct, and hinge in place.
But, as I hinted above, renderings are sales tools. They are a means to express an idea and convince people to buy into it. For that reason, they can be used to manipulate expectations. Back in the 1970’s, as a high schooler, I loved looking at architectural renderings. I could study them for hours. This pastime made me very familiar with the big name architectural illustrator of the mid 20th century, Helmut Jacoby. He did work for all the top architects of the time. Jacoby had a distinctive style that is instantly recognizable. He mostly worked in black and white with crisp line work and highly stylized trees that showed every leaf in detail. The drawings were quite detailed in general which, is part of their magic. Looking back, It is amazing to see what they could accomplish then without the aid of computers. Jacoby had a way of using dramatic perspective angles and richly shadowed surfaces to draw you into a scene. The plazas and streets were always well populated with people and activity. You could see deeply into the drawings. I wanted to walk right into them. If you know your way around the administrative offices of Buffalo State College you might be able to track down a set of original Jacoby renderings showing the Perkins and Will designed central quad area.
Jacoby, more than any individual architect, might be the one responsible for convincing America to buy into the bland plazas and stark towers of the 60s and 70s that helped deaden our cities. More often than not, the buildings rendered by Jacoby turned out to be quite opposite his active and optimistic depictions. It’s not his fault of course. He and the architects he worked for probably believed their own propaganda. The renderings are almost exclusively prepared using computers today. But, using pixels instead of ink and paint does not change the way we use renderings. They are still meant to sell the idea and the artist still has a lot of say in the final sales pitch.
With the recent flood of building projects, Buffalo has been treated to a river of architectural renderings. They typically do a good job of describing the general form and scope of a project. But, they don’t typically tell all of the story and often don’t tell much of the story of what a building is really going to be. The computer promises photo realistic imagery but that is fiction. The architect and renderer have more control over what you see and don’t see than they will admit to. This often results in disappointment, such as in the case of the new Federal Court building on Niagara Square. Its shiny wall of curving glass turned out to be fictional from most angles during most of the day.
The new project just starting construction at Delaware and Chippewa will replace the historic 2 story Delaware Court Building with a glassy tower. This design was sold in a sultry dusky light with soft shimmering glass. The rendering pretty much doomed any fight to save the soon to be gone 100-year-old building. It’s new, it’s flashy, and it’s sophisticated. How can you stand in the way of something Buffalo has been craving? What the architects did not show was any kind of detailed views in normal gloomy winter light. For that, we will have to wait for when the building is complete.
The renderings of the proposed UB Medical School, which I reference earlier, also show a sophisticated contemporary building. Again, we get no close up experiential views. The images are all from a distance showing dreamy lighting and aerial views within the city setting. Renderings rarely provide the view right up close on the sidewalk. You need to reveal more about the building to do that and often the building just does not have “more”. With these high resolution images you can zoom way in to reveal more detail. Doing this shows a disappointing ground level at the back side of the proposed school. The stated plan is to eventually add onto this side so the dead architecture might be OK.
Some of the more interesting discoveries in these renderings are the tricks of the renderer’s trade. You can see things that are left unfinished, such as the open holes in the roof. I often wondered how they could afford the time to render so much of the surrounding city in these aerial kinds of images. It seems like it would be a huge effort. Overall, the image is quite convincing as Buffalo’s Allentown. Zooming in, however, reveals a city populated by California style stucco McMansions rubber stamped over and over. It is quite funny to see. On the street is a car with European style license plates. Is this intentional, to add a subconscious hint of Euro sophistication? I still love a good architectural rendering as much as when I was a kid. But nothing is better than a well executed building. Here is to hoping the latest crop of architectural renderings pay off as promised, golden glowing light and all.