POMONA APARTMENTS 

RENDERING
LOCATION: POMONA, CA
Architects: Babak Azimi & Miguel Maio
In collaboration with: Alma Jauregui

This apartment complex, situated in the suburbs of Pomona, had recently been approved by the planning commission and neighborhood council after months of back-and-forth design negotiations. This, although standard practice now in the world of architecture, poses the question as to who the real architects in new developments shaping the urban landscape are.

Many cities impose what are known as design criteria, which are then evaluated by a board of often non-design-related professionals who proceed to tear apart every design feature added to the building. In situations such as these, full realistic renderings pose the greatest harm compared to hand sketches or colored renderings. When full realistic renderings are presented before these neighborhood council boards, the average Joe will pick apart every tree species a renderer has placed into the scene. Yet when presented with an abstracted hand-sketched rendering, the public typically reacts to the building with more leniency.

As Wes Jones once told me, “if you are going to make it look real, it has to look the part. If not, make it as abstract and fake as possible; otherwise, it just looks wrong.”