Inspiration

I don’t talk a lot about what inspires me but I have been traveling around the country lately giving some workshops and lectures and that question seems to come up a lot. The fact of the matter is that there is no one place that I go to get inspiration and a lot of the time I come across ideas when I least expect it. However, there are a few places that have had a profound impact on shaping my work and what I talk about on this site. I’m not the type of person that revisits websites over and over again but the links below are the exception.

1. The Third and the Seventh

I post this video every few years just in the off chance that my website has new visitors that have never seen it before. Everything in this video is cg which is not obvious at first. I have always looked to Alex Roman’s video for ideas on composition, lighting, and atmosphere which he handles masterfully. It is one of the few videos that I never get bored of and can watch over and over again. His video has become such a presence in the architectural community that he has created a book around the film which can be found at http://thirdseventh-book.com/.

2. Designspiration

A friend of mine pointed me to this site a few years back and it has become a great source of inspiration for ideas on layout, composition, text, and graphic design in general. The site is formatted the way I like things, an unending amount of images Tumblr style that allows you to quickly scan a lot of stuff. You can also create an account to save and organize info that you like similar to Pinterest. The difference is this site is run and curated by a strong graphic design community. This place is indispensable for portfolio design and board layouts.

3. 1X Photography

This is a photography site, however you can refine the search to architectural photography which brings up beautifully composed photos from artists around the world. This site is one of my favorites for ideas on composition and lighting. These images focus on unique and sometime abstract camera angles and lighting instead of the more traditional architecture photography seen in magazines.

4. MIR.

These guys are taking the architectural visualization world by storm. Every image this office creates handles composition, lighting, atmosphere, texture, and everything else perfectly and poetically. What I appreciate most about them is that they show quite a bit of range in lighting situations on their site which is really useful when trying to learn how light behaves in all of these different scenarios. Similar to “The Third and the Seventh”, this office has set the bar for architecture visualization..

5. Personal Inspiration Folder

I guess you could say there is one place that I visit on a weekly basis and this is my own personal inspiration folder. This folder contains everything that I find interesting whether or not it has to do with architecture viz. It is connected to my Google drive so whether I am at work, at home, or on the road and I come across an image or idea that intrigues me, I will categorize it and drop it into this folder. This thing is constantly evolving and growing and contains images from all over the internet. Some of my most favorite images in this folder have nothing to do with architecture and I like this because it helps me to keep thinking outside the box when it comes to arch viz.

16 Comments

Umberto on March 24, 2015 at 8:45 am

Thank you very much Alex for this post.

I’m a 3D drawer architecture using Blender to create my projects and I always looking for inspiration sources.

Now I have some source inspiration on where to look for.

Regards
Umberto

Martin on March 26, 2015 at 12:42 am

Hi alex, is there any chance you could share that folder? wetransfer, dropbox, drive? That would be awesome. As always it doesn’t get any better than your blog. Keep it up!

Armand on April 1, 2015 at 4:42 am

Thank you Alex!
Very interesting and inspiring! Greetings from Almaty, Kazakhstan!

malak on April 13, 2015 at 8:07 pm

i have an inspiration folder as well, yay , am on the right track

Marcus on August 9, 2015 at 12:09 am

Malak attack

Alex Jo on April 17, 2015 at 9:48 am

Yo Alex, heyyyy

So I noticed you did a clay render using V-ray in the past tutorial, but I could not find a tutorial on here on how to do that exactly ?

I am only used to you doing Kerk renders.

amy on April 21, 2015 at 8:11 am

Hi alex, I just find out you get a lot of followers in china today.They like you bolg and you,and this is what they talking about you ‘alex简直是吊炸天小王子lolllllll ‘. That means you are alsome.

Nima on July 23, 2015 at 10:01 am

Soooooooooo many mistakes.

Adnan Demirtas on April 27, 2015 at 1:18 pm

Thank you very much for sharing information. and thank you very much for sharing your inspiration. I really like your style. You are great…. Greatings from Turkey.

zhong on June 22, 2015 at 2:10 pm

aswsome实在是太！！！！！厉害了

Renee on July 21, 2015 at 2:46 am

叫我南小北。

Fancy on November 1, 2015 at 9:14 am

I’m not an architect, but I’m obsessed with visual expression. Occasionally see your page, your design ability and performance techniques inspired and great help to me, I wish to thank you！And,I come from China,so you have been hot cross world!

ruby on November 9, 2015 at 5:28 am

Thanks for Inspiring!!! I was looking for this type information.

arch5moon on December 14, 2015 at 8:54 am

you are my inspiration .

zahid Hasan on April 2, 2017 at 12:10 pm

Thank you. It was a big help.

Cristian Magana on August 14, 2017 at 4:51 pm

Thanks for all you share it has been a lot of help! i would like to share one of my inspirations too, i love the way they use light, composition, proportion and texture in their compositions.

http://barozziveiga.com/project/#2642

Umberto on March 24, 2015 at 8:45 am

Thank you very much Alex for this post.

I’m a 3D drawer architecture using Blender to create my projects and I always looking for inspiration sources.

Now I have some source inspiration on where to look for.

Regards
Umberto
Martin on March 26, 2015 at 12:42 am

Hi alex, is there any chance you could share that folder? wetransfer, dropbox, drive? That would be awesome. As always it doesn’t get any better than your blog. Keep it up!
Armand on April 1, 2015 at 4:42 am

Thank you Alex!
Very interesting and inspiring! Greetings from Almaty, Kazakhstan!
malak on April 13, 2015 at 8:07 pm

i have an inspiration folder as well, yay , am on the right track
- Marcus on August 9, 2015 at 12:09 am
  
  Malak attack
Alex Jo on April 17, 2015 at 9:48 am

Yo Alex, heyyyy

So I noticed you did a clay render using V-ray in the past tutorial, but I could not find a tutorial on here on how to do that exactly ?

I am only used to you doing Kerk renders.
amy on April 21, 2015 at 8:11 am

Hi alex, I just find out you get a lot of followers in china today.They like you bolg and you,and this is what they talking about you ‘alex简直是吊炸天小王子lolllllll ‘. That means you are alsome.
- Nima on July 23, 2015 at 10:01 am
  
  Soooooooooo many mistakes.
Adnan Demirtas on April 27, 2015 at 1:18 pm

Thank you very much for sharing information. and thank you very much for sharing your inspiration. I really like your style. You are great…. Greatings from Turkey.
zhong on June 22, 2015 at 2:10 pm

aswsome实在是太！！！！！厉害了
Renee on July 21, 2015 at 2:46 am

叫我南小北。
Fancy on November 1, 2015 at 9:14 am

I’m not an architect, but I’m obsessed with visual expression. Occasionally see your page, your design ability and performance techniques inspired and great help to me, I wish to thank you！And,I come from China,so you have been hot cross world!
ruby on November 9, 2015 at 5:28 am

Thanks for Inspiring!!! I was looking for this type information.
arch5moon on December 14, 2015 at 8:54 am

you are my inspiration .
zahid Hasan on April 2, 2017 at 12:10 pm

Thank you. It was a big help.
Cristian Magana on August 14, 2017 at 4:51 pm

Thanks for all you share it has been a lot of help! i would like to share one of my inspirations too, i love the way they use light, composition, proportion and texture in their compositions.

http://barozziveiga.com/project/#2642