The Art of Architectural Storytelling

Architectural storytelling is a rapidly expanding field within 3D rendering and visualization, offering architects a way to engage their audience more directly when communicating design concepts. Focusing on life-inspired narratives, lighting and color choices, composition and perspective issues, contextualization/environment integration (like characters/interactions/time/weather changes etc) as well as immersive experiences helps architects better articulate their vision when making project presentations.

Through history, architecture has served as an indelible record of cultural heritage and social values. From Lascaux cave paintings in France and Indonesia to Egypt’s pyramid walls with hieroglyphics depicting stories and traditions enshrined therein, classical architecture around the globe was used as an archive. But with modernist ideals taking hold, all decorative details like entablatures and cornice details were stripped away leaving stark minimalist architecture without any storytelling ability or history behind it.

Architectural visualization tools have come a long way over time and now there are various means for architects to present their designs to clients. Interpreting these visuals, however, requires imagination and architectural insight in order to imagine the final result.

Kibwe Tavares, co-founder of Factory Fifteen and contributor to The Architecture of Stories book, discussed how his film design methodology mirrors that used by architects in creating architectural films. This involves iterations and careful detailing akin to how architects use sketches and drawings as part of their process.