Kanto No. 4, Vol. 2, 2017 | Page 29

Hello! Please introduce yourselves. Hi! We are Trond and Mats, founders of MIR, a studio that provides imagery of unbuilt architecture. We have been doing so since the year 2000. We’d like to think of ourselves as active contributors of the projects we choose to be involved in. This means we do not only produce off- the-shelf renderings but attempt to challenge, interact and educate our clients’ views of the field. Above: The MIR team, lead by Trond Greve and Mats Andersen (front), photographed by Knut Åserud Opposite page: Chartres roadside stop canopy, Kengo Kuma You have a 'natural' and painterly approach in your presentation of architecture; every render is brimming with stories to tell, often in the context of grey skies and tranquil scenery rendered with a saturated color palette. What inspired the trademark 'MIR' aesthetic? We are equal parts praised and called out for the grey, fog-enshrouded visualizations we do of buildings. However it is an inaccurate view of our work, as you can find in our website. What most likely made our viewers associate our work with such a look is that such a moody, mysterious approach to architectural rendering was previously unheard of. I mean, how can one possibly inspire people with misty grey scenes? Don’t we need blue skies, green trees, and lots and lots of happy faces in our renderings? 27 05