There's Something about Archviz

The job market was deeply affected by the pandemic. Many have started reevaluating their priorities, quit their old jobs, and perhaps shifted careers, starting the so-called Great Resignation. Today, however, I'm going to focus on another hot topic connected to the job market, which is the whole work-from-home debate. 

Our industry has very mixed stances when it comes to remote work. I've had many conversations about that these two years and heard many different opinions and I've been setting up my own home office myself way before the pandemic started.

However, today I'm giving the spotlight to Massimiliano Napoli, Head of Still Images Production at Diorama.

Diorama is set up as a production house rather than an archviz studio, and as such, it relies a lot on freelance work power. Diorama has always looked at remote work as a feasible business model, but the pandemic has pushed them to completely ditch the physical office and go full remote. 

In this episode, we go deeper into it, and discuss the lessons Diorama has learned from the pandemic in managing remote work, but also its limitations, especially when it comes to integrating junior and entry-level artists. We also go through some info on their technical setup for remote work and talk a lot about teamwork and the power of freelancing connected to their business model.

Despite the fact that they are a consistent part of our industry, in-house archviz artists don't really get the recognition they deserve.

In-house archviz artists work closely with architects. It's basically like having your client in the same room as you, so the kind of filters and barriers archviz firms put in place are a hundred times more difficult to raise. 

Expectations in architecture offices can be very high. In-house artists get a lot of pressure upon their shoulders, but in most cases, they don't have the possibility to work at the pace or with the conditions that archviz firms would enforce.

I discussed this and much more with Francisco Tirado, visual manager at Copenaghen-based firm COBE. Our talk was extremely insightful, Fran has a lot of experience not only working in-house, but also as a freelancer and as an employee of a world-renown archviz studio like Pixelflakes. 

All his experience and his love for the design process made him the ideal person to cover the role of in-house artist, which is something nowadays I wouldn't recommend to newcomers in the industry.

In this episode, we discuss his background, how he wins the trust of the design team when doing images and how he manages expectations. And we also discussed how to detach yourself emotionally from the work that you do, in order to keep your mental health in such a fast-paced work environment.

Welcome to the finale of Season 1 of the "There's Something about Archviz" Podcast!

In order to celebrate the first year of the podcast, I wanted to shuffle things a little bit. First of all, I conceived this episode with Georgi Lechtarski from The Creative Insider podcast, who is also going to co-host and mirror this episode on his podcast.

As for the episode... well, you've probably already guessed it by now, this time I'll be the guest of my own podcast! So, what are we going to talk about?

In August 2021, I hopped on the virtual stage of D2 Conferences, where I delivered a talk on the topic of mental health in our industry. This is something that involves me directly, as I suffered from burnout and depression connected to the work that I do. However, mental ill-being issues are more common than we want to tell ourselves in our industry, so I'm trying to spread awareness on the topic through my experience.

In today's episode, I delve a bit deeper into my experience with burnout and depression, how I realized I was going through a difficult time in my life, and why things were like that. I describe what were the manifestations of this ill-being, and how perfectionism and social media played into that. Finally, I also talk about how I fought back and what I learned in the process. Just a final word: all we're saying in this episode is not meant to be medical advice. Our experiences will most likely be different, and if you're going through a hard time in your life, I encourage you to consult a doctor and plan the best course of action for you.

If you feel like reaching out and sharing your experience, write me at [email protected] I'm always happy when people talk openly about mental health in our field, that's the only way we can change things in a tangible way.

More about The Creative Insider at https://thecreativeinsider.com/links/

One of the things we tend to forget the most about archviz, is that it is a service industry, and managing people – whether it’s clients or teams, is a pretty important part of what we do. At the core of this, there’s always smooth communication. But how should we manage the expectations of our clients, and how do we build a positive dynamic with internal and external teams?

I’ve asked these questions and much more to Anna Perela, chartered Architect and Head of Planning at Cityscape Digital in London. Her role at Cityscape Digital has many facets, as not only she coordinates internal production teams, mentors people, and maintains standard working practices, but she also liaises with clients, designers, and helps to solve issues that may surface during the cooperation.

In this episode, we go through her background and the self-reflection process that lead her to embrace the managing side of our industry a what is it like to be a Head of Planning. We also discuss architectural competitions as opposed to real estate projects, how smaller teams could implement sustainable practices for growth and management, and much more.

More about Anna:

Anna Perela is a Chartered Architect and Head of Planning at Cityscape Digital in London. She has more than 15 years experience as a Visualisation Artist and Architectural Photographer.

She studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens. The need to convey and present her ideas, led her to arch-viz, through abstract illustrations, 2d drawings and renderings. In the meantime she had developed a passion for photography, experimenting with various techniques and formats. After graduating from university, she enrolled in the State of Art Academy, to further advance her skills in Architectural Visualisation. She had been working as a project Architect and Visualiser for more than 5 years in Greece, prior to moving to London to pursue more career opportunities.

She worked at Squint/Opera for 3 years as a Senior 3d Artist. There, surrounded by like-minded people and inspiring artists, she had the chance to get actively involved with every stage of the visualisation process: image planning, 3d modelling, rendering and post-production, and experiment with versatile visual styles.

After years leading high profile projects for Museums, competitions and master plans, she joined Cityscape Digital in 2018 as a Senior Visualiser.

She is currently managing the Planning Department, which consists of more than 20 Artists, Photographers, Technicians and Producers. Anna maintains standards and working practices within the team, aiming to mentor, support and lead by example. She also liaises closely with some of the biggest architectural practices, developers and consultants in the UK, focusing on problem solving, innovation and excellence. Her team has been involved in some of the most high profile and intricate developments in London, covering the full spectrum of images and services that could accompany a planning application in the UK, from early feasibility studies to post submission support.

Episode 11 of There's Something About Archviz is about how to improve client relationships, which is probably one of the most important and undervalued factors influencing our success in archviz. 

In particular, I wanted to start from a widespread assumption going around within our industry, and that’s we have to “educate” our clients. But what does actually mean to “educate a client”? Should we look beyond this assumption and trying to reframe it? 

Simon Oudiette from Horoma joins me to answer these questions. In this episode, we try to understand what we actually mean by "educating a client", which tools are available to us in order to improve the relationship we have with our clients, the role of social media in this process, and what to do when dealing with less than ideal clients.

Simon Oudiette on the web

• Horoma (Website): https://www.horoma.net/
• Horoma (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/c/HoromaStudio
• Horoma Masterclass: https://www.horoma.school/

What opportunities do archviz artists have outside image-making? How to discover and pursue new passions, interests, build side activities, and even additional income streams?

Episode 10 of the "There's Something about Archviz" podcast aims to provoke thought and push 3D artists to explore new activities that while being still linked to archviz, are not strictly image-making, which is especially important in an age like ours where work and skills have become so fluid.

In order to help me explore this topic, I had Lisa Della Dora on the show, an exemplary case of a 3D Artist developing transversal skills. Besides working as a Senior Artist for Bloomimages, Lisa runs since 2017 Render IT!, a collection of over 40 interviews with Italian 3D artists, which developed into a thriving community. Since 2020 she also joined the Master In Digital Architecture (MADI) at the University of Venice as an Art Director, kicking off her teaching career.

We discuss why is it worth it to explore side activities as an archviz artist, how to manage time in pursuing these new projects, while also touching on the topic of working from home and how to adapt to this new normality.

More about Lisa:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisadelladora
• Render IT!: https://renderit.blog/
• The Made in ItaViz Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/248608953122268

Episode 09 of There's Something about Archviz is about gender equality and balance issues in the architectural visualization industry.

Historically, archviz has been a very male-heavy industry, and last statistics from 2016 tell us that women represented only 7% percent of the workforce in archviz.

I believe that the more diverse is a field, and this is especially true in creative professions, the more that field is a thriving one. So I decided to sit down with Elena Valeria Miller and discuss why women are so underrepresented in archviz, and what can we do to encourage more to join the profession.

Elena became recently a spokeswoman for the Women in Archviz platform, with the aim of giving more visibility and support to women in our field.

In our conversation, we discussed how Women in Archviz started, what are the main struggles that women face in archviz, and in which ways the industry could do better in order to improve inclusivity and equality. 

More about Elena:

Elena is a 3d artist, creative director, and author in the making, living in the UK together with her husband, 4-year-old daughter, and cat. With a fine arts background as bachelor of the Visual Arts University in Bucharest, Elena worked in many creative roles across the marketing, broadcast, and publishing sectors, as well as in the editorial field. In 2011, Elena took a leap of faith to leave Romania to attend a Masters course in Illustration and Animation at Coventry University in The United Kingdom.

After graduating with distinction, she restarted her career and focused on learning more about the 3D tools and software that she had encountered during her studies. From that point on, she has devoted her time to learning, practicing and constantly improving her skills and has worked for studios specializing in architectural visualization, automotive events, advertising, and marketing. In 2015, after setting up her own creative studio based in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom, EVNvis, her work started receiving awards and being featured in international publications and websites.

Elena Valeria Miller

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenavdesign/
• Website: https://www.evnvis.co.uk/

Episode 08 of the There's Something about Archviz podcast features Lucia Frascerra, Senior Visualisation Artist for Secchi Smith in London and teacher of Post-production for Archviz at MADI IUAV.

Lucia brought on the show the story of how her passion for archviz pushed her to challenge her assumptions about herself, and how she went from living in a small town in Tuscany to working for some of the biggest names in archviz.

Through her work experience at DBOX and Cityscape Digital, Lucia has experienced the archviz job market from several different angles. Our conversation revolved indeed on how her responsibilities changed when shifting from a role to another and moving between companies of different sizes.

We also discussed very important topics for any job-hunting archviz artist, such as the personal skills and the attitude to show for a successful career in archviz, and what companies expect from a candidate and their portfolio.

More about Lucia:

Lucia Frascerra

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucia_frascerra
• Website: https://www.luciafrascerra.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luciafrascerravisualization

What does it really mean to receive an education in archviz?

Archviz training doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional academic path. We know that too well, many of us are self-taught or have been following scattered courses and tutorials.

However, the offer we have today is unprecedented. The pandemic has brought so much online educational content for archviz artists, and the common idea of YouTube having a tutorial for everything revolving around our profession…well, today is truer than ever.

So, what’s the past, present, and a possible future for education in archviz? Today I’m joined by Fabio D’Agnano, that will help me shedding light on this topic. Fabio is the Director of the Master in Digital Architecture (MADI) at the University of Venice, a long-time teacher and industry veteran.

In this episode, we discuss why it is worth pursuing formal education in archviz and why we should go beyond the excessive technical focus in programs and courses. We also talk about the power of networking, the future of online learning, what makes a teacher great, and much more related to how our profession has evolved in time.

About the Master in Digital Architecture (MADI)

• Website: http://www.masterad.it/

Mike Golden joins me on "There's Something about Archviz" podcast for a two-parts episode on his experience in running a one-man show in the architectural visualization field.

Mike is the founder of Three Marks, a one-man show visualization studio largely focused on crafting CGI for luxury real estate. He is best known on the internet with the alias of Droquis, under which he crafts digital art. Mike is also a great lecturer, and he has been featured several times at industry conferences and schools around the world.

In this second part of the episode, Mike highlights the importance of being fast and efficient when running a one-man show, and go quickly through all the perfunctory tasks in order to jump earlier on all those things that really make an image great. We also enjoy a lengthy conversation about client management in archviz, and on how to remain confident in the quality of our services in an industry filled with great work.

More about Mike, Three Marks and Droquis

Droquis

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/droquis
• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/droquis
• Website: https://www.droquis.com/

Three Marks

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threemarks
• Website: http://www.threemarks.com/