PWC Offices in Athens, Greece: Case Study of Architectural Rendering for Real Estates

by AIMIR CG | Feb 13, 2023 | 0 comments

3D rendering, or architectural rendering, is an inevitable and powerful solution in real estate development. It is widely used by architects, interior designers, and real estate professionals, especially in the initial stage during the development. Today, we’d like to share an architectural visualization case study

This project is a proposal for PWC Offices in Athens. Tina and her team from ASPA KST architecture design planning talked about this project with us, and hoped to get the high-res and high-quality visuals delivered in 10 days.

To support our client’s work, we created 2 views for this building in 10 days. In this blog, we’ll subdivide the 3D rendering process and enrich it with details, so that no matter you’re looking for a similar service or you want to be a 3D artist, it is easy to get the whole picture. Let’s start the story!

Architectural Rendering Process

#1. Getting to Know the Project

Before everything starts, it is always important to know about the project. It comes first in each architectural visualization project because the 3D team is able to perform great results only when they understand the project. From the vision to the project location, the more detailed information, the more of help to the visualization process.

For this structure, Tina explained their vision: an office complex focusing on the sustainability and people, introducing a new, authentic, and interactive work experience. A building with high-level design and wellness principles incorporated, will be a new architectural benchmark in the area of Maroussi, Athens, Greece.

ASPA KST is our partner and we’ve kept their preferences on 3D renders in mind. This means they don’t always need to articulate what they want in the images. The next thing we need to do is to sort the information and understand the scope of work.

#2. Understanding the Scope of Work

Before getting to the scope of work, our team firstly sorted the information received from Tina.

• Design Concept.
• A Rhino3D model.
• A drone photo of the site.
• Some renders created by their in-house team.

Then the scope of work is crystal clear:

• One aerial view using the drone photo for photomontage.
• One eye-level view of the office buildings with night mood.

#3. Building the 3D Model

As the first stage of the 3D rendering process, our 3D team always consider 3D modeling as the most important stage. Because the 3D model will give the first impression of the design.

In this stage, we input the Rhino 3D model into 3ds Max, sorting the lines and geometries, checking the materials, and fine-tuning the model. Firstly, we confirmed the basic shape with the design. Using a variety of tools in 3ds Max such as splines and primitive shapes, our 3D modeler refined the model. When the shape was ready, our 3D specialists added details to the model. This could be done by applying textures and materials, adding lighting, and adjusting any settings of each shape. Finally, the 3D modeler exported the fine-tuned 3D model.

After sharing the model draft with the wanted camera angles with Tina, she came back with her comments quickly. In the comments, she is happy with the model, but she wrote more about future instructions:

• The mood of the view, with a reference image.
• Material board. She provided reference images of the concrete façade, pedestrian walkway, glass windows, and the logo on the building.
• Other designs such as the vegetation spaces.

Thus, we’ve confirmed the model and views, and learnt the design details of the building. The next stage is to complete the scene with details.

#4. Applying Materials, Adding Lighting, Rendering, and Post-work

Once the 3D model has been created, we start to texture and lit it in order to make it look realistic. According to the instructions Tina shared, we carefully selected the materials and textures. Usually, the client will receive the textured drafts for checking the colors and textures of the objects. But for this project, we continued to working on others, here, the lighting.

Adding the lighting involves adding different types of lighting to the scene. For example, natural, artificial, and environmental lighting. These lighting will affect the realism of the scene, and can be adjusted during the 3D rendering process. Our 3D artists set realistic lighting to the scene, making it look like natural light that gives the building a natural and warm touch. Moreover, as we use photomontage, we also need to adjust the lighting based on the one in the original photo.

After the above was done, it was time to render the scene. Perhaps the most exciting part of 3D rendering process is three-dimensional rendering. In this process, our 3D artists will create render passes and then combine them into a complete and photorealistic image using 3ds Max.

The very last part of this stage is to post-process the images. During this part, the whole scene will look brighter and more natural, and the consistency will be adjusted too. Apart from that, adding elements such as people, cars, plants and other necessary stuff is also processed. We added some dynamic people and moving cars to emphasize the life-like atmosphere of the office buildings.

Having received the results, Tina commented back:

• Make the concrete façade brighter at the same time a little less grey.
• Adjust the PWC logo until it fits into one horizontal stripe.
• Add more vegetation.

Besides these minor adjustment, Tina also wanted to make a bit change on the design. It was about an entrance door that Tina’s team wanted to remove.

Our 3D artists corrected the renderings based on these comments, and sent the updated final drafts to Tina again. This time, she was happy with them and said they were good to go!

#5. Final Delivery

As these two renders were ready for usage, we output the high-res final images. For the aerial view, it is 7k, and for the eye-level night view, it’s a 5k image. Both these resolutions were agreed in the first place when starting the project. Now, please enjoy these two photorealistic renders:

#6. Summary and Survey

For each project, we send a summary that goes through the whole process. This is a summary that recaps what we did well and what we need to improve during this project. Meanwhile, we will invite our client to fill a Client Satisfaction Survey to rate our service. This includes overall service, communication skills, 3D work, and many other factors relating to the experience. Tina rated us a five-star brand and said her team were excited to use these 3D renders to persuade the juries and win the plan.

Do you like these 3D renders for this incredible office buildings? If you do, that means we did a good job! As an architectural rendering studio, we never stop showcasing the soul of the design with challenging tasks. But no matter what is the task, art is always an integral part of the process.

Like these 3D renders? Want to bring your exciting project to life with gorgeous visualization works? Contact us for professional 3D rendering services, and we’ll blow your audience’s mind with realistic visuals that tell your vision!