Developing Renderings for Micro Housing China
Overall, the design of Micro Housing China is complete and all that’s left is finalizing a project site in China and developing graphics. So this week, my focus was to find an ideal location for the Micro Housing China project and develop renderings using photographs and/or street view images. Here is the final location for the project and some of the initial renderings!
Project Location
Starting my search for a project site, I went on Google Earth, searched Hong Kong, and flew around to various neighborhoods and locations. Analyzing building materials and types of stores in various neighborhoods, it was evident that the population in one area contains more wealth than others. As a micro housing complex focusing on the homeless population, I decided that project 12x30 should be located within a middle class neighborhood to provide opportunities to homeless families with children.
After searching for hours on Google Earth, I found a location with an existing 1 to 2 story shop on a narrow street. Adjacent to the shop, there’s a high rise apartment building that appears to be low and middle income families. In this location, the Micro Housing China project would fit into its context through its proportions of slender width, narrow depth, and height. Thus, the project site will be at 2 Star St, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China.
Initial Renderings
Once the site was selected, I went into the street view to explore vantage points for the renderings. There were only two images that I was able to pull from the street view that I could use as a backdrop for renderings. So I took a screenshot of these two locations, cropped and modified them, and saved them to my graphics folder.
After the street views were selected, I setup camera views in Revit relative to the location of the street view camera. It took a few minutes to adjust the camera so that the Micro Housing China project would align with the street view images. Then, it was time to apply materials to the exterior façade of the building.
This part of the rendering process was simple because there were a handful of components that needed materials. First, I applied a concrete texture with tension rod formwork (visible holes in a grid-like pattern on the concrete) to the exterior wall construction. Then, I modified the glazing and mullion materials by applying metallic paint. Finally, I applied a light blue metallic paint to the exterior automatic shades.
When the materials were set, I changed the sun and rendering settings and sent the two renderings to the cloud. They took about 10 minutes each to render on the cloud. Once they were complete, I moved into the post-processing phase and brought each rendering and street view into Photoshop. Here’s what they look like so far!
Conclusion
Although my time to work on the Micro Housing China project is limited, I’ve found that planning ahead and knowing my next steps has been helpful in moving forward. With all the activities in my personal life and the onslaught of summer projects at the office, I’ve only had an hour every other day to dedicate to the project. However, I’m excited to show you my progress along the way and I’ll continue developing the renderings this week! Stay tuned for more…
