New Zæhaland

The beginning

It was 2015, and in a classroom at the university where I was studying technical architecture, I discovered Zaha Hadid's architecture through the Phaeno Science Center, thanks to a construction class assignment and my best friend.

Although my initial training was predominantly technical, I aspired to complement it with design aspects. One of the most important aspects is being able to present our ideas to the world, so I decided to start my professional training in architectural visualization about a year ago at The Factory School.

During this training period, I have learned to step out of my comfort zone (more focused on the construction process), acquiring new visualization and interpretation techniques of the world around us, making these representations increasingly similar to a potential future reality.

Architecture

Due to the profound respect and admiration I have for Zaha Hadid's architecture, the California Residence could not be tarnished, so I decided to create an interpretation that would maintain the character, presence, and idea of the original project but in a completely different location. And although we all know that Zaha Hadid integrated her projects into their surroundings in an exceptional way, and without wanting to undermine that work in any way, with all that respect and admiration, I have tried to integrate it into a completely different environment. This has been the result:

The structure is entirely made in 3DsMax, consisting of an editable poly in the form of quads to which the corresponding texture channel has been assigned, organized through Unwrap. After achieving the desired structure, the internal partitions and divisions, as well as the external enclosures, terrace areas, and pool, followed, always trying to maintain that order and functionality for the correct execution of the project.

Once the important part of the house was done, the exterior spaces came next. After much deliberation, the shape of the facade suggests the wings of a seagull, so a location near the water seemed essential. Although I initially thought of a Mediterranean location, the nearest surroundings were initially a fenced area with an extensive lawn, leading me to dream of a coastal environment in northern Spain. However, it was one of the proposals from a good friend and professor that led me to choose this snowy environment seen in the first images. Despite most internet images showing an initial project in a sandy, even desert-like area, it was never one of my priorities. With all this in mind, I set out to find a location that met the requirements of a snowy area, coastal zone, and beautiful landscape to give the structure the importance it deserves.

The next step was to observe the building's behavior with the closest surroundings. To do this, the project was transferred from 3DsMax to Unreal Engine, using the Datasmith plugin.

Since I didn't have much time or financial resources to travel the world in search of this location, I wandered through Google Maps and found Manapouri, in New Zealand. After walking through its streets via Street View, I understood that it was the location I needed for this project, so I looked for a way to obtain a Heightmap of the area and got a 20.48x20.48km² area, which offered me the opportunity to create a 2048x2048 pixel space, ideal for working in power of 2 in Unreal Engine.

Environment

After obtaining the orography in the Unreal project, I proceeded to create a material that would highlight the snowy areas based on the slope of each mountain, meaning that the steeper the slope, the less snow volume and vice versa, which gives the environment a good dose of realism. Subsequently, I added the water volume using Unreal's native method, setting the level as close as possible to the real one observed in Manapouri. Once this result was achieved (not counting the thousands of changes and adjustments made throughout the project), it was time to bring the building into the project where the environment was already present. This has been largely possible thanks to Unreal Engine 5's Nanite technology, which allows for an incredible level of scene optimization even with a high number of polygons.

Once the environment was decided, it was time for the outdoor decoration elements and vegetation, so I dedicated a lot of time to creating various definitive plant environments for the project.
Initially, I tried to create an environment using the foliage tool while empathizing with the northern environment idea. However, it was the combination of this tool and manually placing some species in specific points near the building that made the difference in each of the final images. Finally, once the environment, vegetation, building, materials, lights, and the combination of all these elements were obtained, it was time to render each of the selected exterior scene composition combinations. Here are some of the results:

Light

As can be seen in the previous images, light is one of the most important elements in each of them, as it is responsible for emphasizing, highlighting, and concealing each of the elements in a scene.

Indoor spaces

Due to the project's large scale, I made a free interpretation of the interior areas of the California Residence. Starting with the ground floor, we find a connected space between a living area-fireplace, the dining room, and the kitchen. At all times, I have tried to use elements from Zaha Hadid's collections and find their place. I included references such as the moon system collection, Erosion for Neutra, Flow Vase, and many others that make sense with the building's organic forms.

And lastly, but not least, the gym, located on the upper floor.

Details

To conclude this presentation, I wanted to reserve a special section for those images that emphasize any project.

Construction details:

Furniture:

And some subtle details that unify the project, such as having a painting in the living room with the Bugatti logo and including one in the garage of the house.

The End

I reserve this space, with one of my favorite perspectives of the project, to express my gratitude to:
Our little son, who has endured his daddy working on this passion and not playing as much as we both would like.
My wife, as without her support, this delivery would not have been possible.
The teaching staff: Jota, Jorge, Víctor, Óscar, and Gabriele. Without their advice, help, time, and dedication, none of this would be, by any means, imaginable.
The fellow adventurers at The Rookies, with whom we have spent great times sharing knowledge, points of view, some laughs, and even almost some tears.

See you next time!