“ The images we make are more about the place than the building.”
Danjiang Bridge, Zaha Hadid Architects
“ The images we make are more about the place than the building.”
When a building is physically changed to a different design than what it promised in the renderings, now that’ s a different story that the builders have to answer for. Our job is to pinpoint and hold up what we think are the strongest aspects of the architectural projects we take on.
The digital age has brought upon the popularity of CGI and 3D animation in various fields and in this burgeoning and competitive industry, what piece of advice would you give aspiring architectural visualizers who want to pursue a similar career path such as yours?
You need to learn to master other things than just 3D softwares. Use your mind and solve things in Photoshop— try out matte painting and train your eye instead of just letting the 3D software do all the work. It will look plastic. Learn to draw and paint with a pencil and brush. Study the visual world around you. Play with cameras. Do not be afraid to experiment and do things differently.
You work in the inspiring locale of Bergen, Norway, whose landscapes aren’ t far off from the beautiful settings in your renderings. How important is context and mood in the creation of the architectural image?
This is extremely important, absolutely one of the key ingredients of the architectural visualization“ dish”. Living where we live gives us great visual input when it comes to weather, colors and lighting situations. In a normal day, we have fog, sun, snow, rain and epic sunsets. There are wet swamps, rocky hills, lakes, waterfalls, snowy peaks and dark forests— all 15 minutes away from the office. Context and mood is everything.
We often say that the images we make are more about the place than the building.
What is MIR’ s dream project? Have you landed it yet?
At first we dreamed about working with the big studios. After a while we discovered that it was not as rewarding as we envisioned. In the big studios, there are overarching hierarchies, and lots of opinions to juggle, mostly from people whom we are not very often able to talk to directly. This usually leads to a bad environment for creative work, and the process becomes rigid and tedious. No one is willing to take risks, so we then end up with“ elevation music.”
We’ ve also done projects where the clients are more open-minded and are interested in letting us add our own flavor or take on the project. It can be a humble cabin or a great castle— it doesn’ t matter.
We are currently involved in making a series of renderings of unbuilt architectural masterpieces of the last century. It will culminate into something big. It’ s all very inspiring and we are able to take more control
Speaking of inspiration. how does the team stay inspired? What activities and initiatives are implemented to keep your team refreshed and rejuvenated?
Good question. We try to go on trips, have social lives outside of work. We don’ t force our employees to work long hours and over weekends. We think everyone needs stimuli from hobbies and social lives apart from work. We also attend seminars, have nice lunches and loud conversations in the office, and on off days, we go on spa excursions.
See more of MIR ' s architectural visualization portfolio at mir. no
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