Drawing People into Undiscovered Spaces
〜CG Studio’s Architectural Landscape〜

In the 1960s, Nikken Sekkei established a department specializing in architectural visualization using hand-drawn perspective drawings. For a half century since then, Nikken Sekkei has continued to experiment with ways to convey architectural images of the future to clients and users, expanding the scope of expression from CG line drawings in the 1980s to animation in the 1990s. Today, about 20 creators at CG Studio (CGS) are working on new expressive technologies, including virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR).

Hamano, a digital creator, observes that one of CGS’s major roles—that of “conveying an appealing space and capturing the hearts of the people who see it”—has remained unchanged since its inception.

To that end, Hamano makes an effort to “depict buildings as part of a landscape, not simply as individual structures”. In order to convey the environment and atmosphere that is created once a building has been constructed, the amount of light is adjusted and reflections of the building are rendered on the surface of the water, expressing in detail the affinity between the building and the surrounding environment. This creates a presence in a space that has not yet been discovered, almost as if the viewer is there themselves.

Hamano explains, “By depicting people’s activities and the surrounding environment, you can imagine yourself there.” What the CG Studio creates are tools for communication between the client and designer to draw a vision of the future together with the user from their own perspective. “The audience for a presentation is not necessarily made up of people who know a lot about architecture”, Aoyama points out. “The application of CG technology not only makes a building or space look cool; it also makes viewers aware of how a space can be used by adding scenery that fits with the occasion.”

For example, the video featuring Sumitomo Forestry’s W350 project, a joint research and development concept for a wooden skyscraper (planning concept and wood engineering: Sumitomo Forestry / architectural design and concept planning: Nikken Sekkei), is a combination of images featuring natural ecology and a wooden skyscraper. The video appeals to all five senses to show an atmosphere created by wooden construction and raises people’s expectations of an eco-friendly city.

The production of visualization is a team effort between CGS and designers that proceeds with a series of discussions.

While the main work of CGS is producing the final image, the creators also conduct simulations using CG during the design phase. Designs are refined by examining finishing materials and checking the composition and scale of spaces.

Ota, who has experience using CG modeling to help clients consider actual designs, reflects, “In projects that involved a number of people, it was easier to build consensus when specific drawings were shared with the client.”

In addition, what CGS creates often brings new insights to designers, which also results in designs being touched up.

“You can’t automatically create a visual just because you have a blueprint,” notes Wada. “The work at CGS involves creating a single picture that draws out the best features of a space by closely examining the blueprints to read and interpret the space, changing conditions, such as the position of the sun, amount of light and finishing materials, and rendering and verifying the image over and over again.” The emergent effect, Wada points out, is created by “looking at the space from the perspective of a photographer”, which is different than that of a designer.

As a group of visual creation specialists, CGS is keen to pursue cutting-edge and diverse styles of expression. “We want to learn from other genres, such as film and video, and experiment with as-of-yet undiscovered forms of expression,” remarks Wada.

At one point, a designer was unable to deliver a presentation directly to the client, so CGS put together a video presentation combining images with an explanation from the designer using a technique that blends CG and actual images called chroma key compositing. The group photo of CGS by Aoyama at the top of this site was also created from individual photos.

In proposals for example, 360-degree rendering techniques are used to depict the movement of various people inside a complex.
*Click below for a 360-degree VR experience.

CGS is continuing to challenge itself with various types of visualization techniques by adding hand-drawn images at times to the latest technology.

In a study submitted to a special competition in the past, a single mistake during production led Aoyama who “likes imaging spaces” to discover a world that was completely different to the pictures he usually sees even in the same space, simply by changing the perspective. He finished by creating an image that allows the viewer to unintentionally imagine what happened on that spot.

Wada observes, “Architectural CG is often descriptive, but I want to create something that has a narrative.” Intent on creating new worlds, Hamano explains that he “wants to depict the fantasy world of the near future in these modern times when different forms of expression are possible.”

The role of visualization, which provides users with a simulated experience of space, will continue to take on even more significance in the future. Watch out for more of CGS’s activities connecting imagination with realistic spaces.