Architectural visualizations are crucial to the design and planning phases of a project. They help communicate ideas, gather feedback, and make informed decisions before construction begins.
However, when you compare the finished building with its initial representation, sometimes you don't see the shining sun reflecting in its windows and the greenery around it that's more lush than that in the Garden of Eden.
So to remind you that what we see isn't always what we get, here's a collection of pictures that exemplify the contrast between the promised ideal and reality.
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Design Submitted By The Architect vs. How The Contractor Ends Up Building It
Stanley Milner Library In Edmonton, Alberta
At this point, the phenomenon in these pictures is virtually a trend. In one of his articles for The Guardian, British architecture and design critic Olly Wainwright explains how he tends to find himself observing thesis projects produced by the best and brightest students of the UK.
But what he is struck by the most isn't the technical skill or imagination, but rather the sheer lack of connection these projects have with actual, built, imperfect architecture: "Time and again, the projects seemed intent on fleeing the real world of people and places, scale and context; retreating instead into fantasy realms of convoluted forms with no seeming purpose."
Such A Big Difference Between The Rendered Photo And Reality. Prisma, Helsingborg, Sweden
Vizag International Cruise Terminal In Visakhapatnam, India
Ugh…this is so misleading. The terminal was supposed to launch this fall and has been delayed. The first picture was one of several submitted and not the final design. There are no actual cruise ships that currently visit Visakhapatnam yet. The delay is until March and the angle of this photo is also misleading. It’s a beautiful building and once landscaped and after construction is completed, it will be exactly what was ordered.
Växjö's New Municipal Building. Render vs. Real Building
"There [are] scaleless worlds of splintered shards and riverine landscapes, in which forlorn mechanisms had been implanted like post-apocalyptic ruins of a distant-future race," Wainwright explained.
"Clouds of lines and layers were regularly employed as a smokescreen to disguise the fact that there wasn't really an idea at all: visual complexity masking conceptual thinness."
Residence Trea In Istanbul, Turkey
Located In Central Halmstad
In order to sell projects, they brighten up the facades and exaggerate the number of pedestrians and cyclists in their render. They also invent greenery that doesn't exist.
The So-Called Stadsberget In Piteå. Although It Is A Parking Garage, The Illustration Shows A Car-Free Environment With A Lot Of Cyclists And Pedestrians
It literally looks like a falling apart corrugated shipping container.
Urbanist Vanessa Quirk agrees that it's a trap many architecture schools have fallen into, not just in the UK but around the world.
"It's not just a symptom of the misguided nature of architecture education. It's also symptomatic of architecture's obsession with the image of architecture, an image completely detached from reality," said Quirk, who is the interim president of the board at Urbanist Media, a non-profit trying to elevate underrepresented voices and preserve the places that matter to them.
Spektrum In Nya Hovas. Rendering vs. Actual Result
Tel Aviv University's "Building Of The Future"
I Wonder How The People Who Bought Apartments In This Apocalyptic-Leninist Bunker Nightmare Feel About Their Investment
a horrifying result -- at least the trees look better IRL than the render
Quirk believes the idea of the "perfect" architectural image is not only propagated by professors who prioritize the rendering over its practical implications (causing students to spend hours perfecting visuals instead of perfecting the design).
In her eyes, the architectural media shares the blame. "[It] presents a flood of glossy shots that 'sell' an idealized architecture to the public and, frankly, architects themselves."
Vision vs. Reality. Platinan In Gothenburg, Sweden
Söders Höjder In Helsingborg, Sweden
The real building doesn't shine very much, and the reality is painful. Söders Höjder in Helsingborg is Sweden's third ugliest new building in 2023 and also the building with the year's worst fake view.
The Vision Of This Building Looked Great, But The Reality Is Very Disappointing
The New Hotel At Halmstad's Travel Center. It Looks Like A Haunted Hotel
The danger of this is that the image exists independent of the concept, to be evaluated as a graphic, or as Quirk put it, "The architecture itself is erased, eclipsed by its image."
The proliferation of such pictures could lead clients and the public at large to expect from architecture and architects a degree of quality, perfection even, that is impossible to deliver in the real world, and thus, disappointment.
The Plans For The Marble Arch Mound On The Left Regarded Spectacular In Comparison With The Way It Had Really Been Constructed
This Monstrosity Of Selma Center In Gothenburg, Sweden
This Is A Building Concept For A Hofbräuhaus (German Beer Garden-Type Restaurant Chain) In Buffalo, But Failed To Be Built Correctly Or Finished At All
The Same, But Different
Slightly idealized renderings are often seen as necessary means to sell the idea of a design to a client, in which case a bit of artistic leeway becomes an unavoidable evil.
However, as Quirk asked, once that idea is sold, "what happens when a more realistic rendering, one which shows as truthfully as possible how the building will look (air conditioning units and all) is presented?"
If You Can't Design A Nice Building, You Can Always Try To Hide The Building Completely. Unfortunately, It's More Difficult In Reality Than In The Picture
The New Munch Museum In Oslo Opened, And It Might Not Look Exactly Like The Vision Picture
Vågen Was Sweden's Fifth Ugliest Building In 2022
If they used the copper colored cladding, this would actually be close to the rendering.
A Different Angle But The Message Is Still Clear - Horrendous
goes to prove that some people cannot think in 3 dimensions -- as a design professional it's worse crime than being a colour-blind air force pilot.
Royal Ontario Museum: Expectations vs. Reality
When the rendering sets expectations far higher than anyone can achieve, does the realistic one become useless?
Is the stylized version of the rendering actually bad for architecture in general?
Should everyone just stick to models and forget renderings altogether?
I guess, time will tell.
Sara Cultural Center In Skellefteå, Sweden. In Reality It Looks Very Sad
Glasiaren, Gothenburg. The Building Turned Into Something That Resembles An Old Refrigerator With Ugly Magnets
Totalitarian New Box In Kungsängen, Sweden. The Gray Color Looks Way Worse Than It Should Be
The Vision And Reality Of Kv. Poolen The New Bathhouse In Frösunda, Sweden
Malmö's New District Court In Sweden. Vision vs. Reality
A Skyscraper In Warsaw, Poland
Funny How Buildings Just Change Color
Yet if you didn't knew that rendering than the actual building is quite pleasant.
Sven-Harry's Art Museum In Vasaparken, Stockholm
"Bal Gown" In The Hague, Netherlands. It Had The Potential
The Render Of Däcket Car Park And The Reality Of It
Planned vs. Actual Pune Metro. Left - Sant Tukaram Metro Station, PCMC. Right - Deccan Gymkhana, Pune
Citygate (Getingboet) In Gothenburg, Sweden. Those Windows Look Really Different
The Elite Hotel Carolina Tower At Nya Karolinska In Hagastaden, Stockholm, Sweden
According to the vision, the place would suddenly become much brighter when the hotel will be completed. Unfortunately, they were wrong.
The Render One Looked Way Better. Scandic Central In Örebro, Sweden
An Expectation Image Of Metropolia's Myllypuro Campus vs. An Image From Reality
Kalmar House Stella In Sweden. At Least They Tried?
Please stop taking pictures from different angles and in different day times to compare and then say "they not delivered what they promised"...
A New Landmark Was Built In Kallhäll, Stockholm
The result angered the residents who had expected a white house. Those responsible replied that they saw no problem with the illustrations: "We have done what we said we would do. Not everyone can love a house."
From Render To Reality
Not that bad, I actually like the real building. They should merely change the color of the light, to blue or white for instance.
Vision Picture For Brandbergen Centre. It Didn't Turn Out Exactly As Planned
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Headquarters: Expectation vs. Reality
Reality Is Bleak Compared To The Rendering World
The Completed Mast Quay Phase II Built-To-Rent Development Is Substantially Different From The Scheme That Was Originally Permitted
I like the real one better. It's cleaner/tidyer. The rendered building is too chaotic.
An Apartment Building Near Stockholm
This Disappointing Building In Gothenburg, Sweden
Elbe Philharmonic Hall. In The Renders Of This Project, Hinged Glass Facade Resembles A Perfect Blanket, Almost Weightless. However, In Reality The Facade Does Not Show The Same Effect
In The Renderings, There Are Significantly More People Than Cars On The Roads, But In Reality It Is The Opposite
Am I the only one who couldn't give fewer figs about the people in the renderings? The proposal is for a building. Not a park. Not a sidewalk. Not a bright future where everything is carbon neutral, and there's no pollution. It's a building. And this one seems remarkably dead-on compared to some others on the list.
Note: this post originally had 52 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Architect: Here is a very pretty design! Civil Engineer: Here is what is structurally possible to build.
Civil engineer addition: And what is within building codes.
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This list is telling me one thing if I ever need to have a building built avoid Sweden.
Many are disappointments because the projections are on a sunny day, all lights turned on, thinner, and taller. Also, glass buildings are imagined almost transparent, which seems impossible at least in daylight.
I think that's sort of false advertising. Window tinting/coating is definitely a thing that needs to be done for the sake of all the people working in the building (and maybe birds), so I would consider it a problem that buildings are portrayed as being transparent when they literally can't be.
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Architect: Here is a very pretty design! Civil Engineer: Here is what is structurally possible to build.
Civil engineer addition: And what is within building codes.
Load More Replies... This list is telling me one thing if I ever need to have a building built avoid Sweden.
Many are disappointments because the projections are on a sunny day, all lights turned on, thinner, and taller. Also, glass buildings are imagined almost transparent, which seems impossible at least in daylight.
I think that's sort of false advertising. Window tinting/coating is definitely a thing that needs to be done for the sake of all the people working in the building (and maybe birds), so I would consider it a problem that buildings are portrayed as being transparent when they literally can't be.
Load More Replies...