The best architectural renders are not only beautiful images, they also convey amazing ideas about architecture, and there is a dedicated A+Award category for these projects. both built and unbuilt renders are eligible for submission! enter your project hereand act fast — THE EARLY ENTRY DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 30th.
“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”
Behold: today is the day that Marty McFly was transported to in “Back to the Future Part II,” and in many ways, it will come as a real disappointment to diehard fans of the franchise. The reality is not quite what it should be, after all: hover-boards are only just taking off, and we most definitely still need roads … even if we don’t have to worry about driving ourselves along them as much as we used to.
Of course, it is part of every architect’s job to imagine what might be. We are forever living in the realms of a possible future right up until the moment our drawings and models are made real on the construction site. It should come as no surprise, then, that designers of the built environment are often enamored with the futuristic worlds depicted in science-fiction movies like Robert Zemeckis’s classic, and these visions often spill over into radical proposals for contemporary urban landscapes.
In honor of this special day for comic cinema, we present seven of the most futuristic renders to come from the studios of architects, designers, and digital artists in recent years. What will the world look like 30 years from now? Maybe, just maybe, something like this …
Hydrogenase Algae Farm, Shanghai, China; via Vincent Callebaut.
1. Hydrogenase Algae Farm by Vincent Callebaut
Vincent Callebaut is a specialist in biomimicry, traversing the line between engineering and biology to envision ambitious proposals for the sustainable cities of the future. With the Hydrogenase Algae Farm, he imagines a future Shanghai, China, populated with inhabited aircraft that produce energy using hydrogen, and this golden, sun-kissed render illustrates just how beautiful this new urban condition could be.
AP002T Tower; via Nicholas Richelet.
2. AP002T Tower by Nicholas Richelet
Concept artist Nicholas Richelet conceived this perfectly plausible skyscraper proposal that wouldn’t look out of place in today’s desert metropolises of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, or Doha, Qatar, but via a dramatic twilit rendering with the customary lens flare, the structure is lent a distinctly futuristic atmosphere. With its elegant, perforated external envelope, Richelet’s design could have come from the office of French architect Jean Nouvel, but this tower remains the stuff of fantasy, for now.
KAPSARC, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; via ZHA.
3. KAPSARC by Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid Architects arguably is the practice whose built work most closely resembles populist predictions of the future. A pertinent example is currently being constructed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; set for completion soon, KAPSARC is a research center focusing on the technical and environmental concerns around petroleum, and the firm’s vision of the building’s interior is fueled by architectural inspirations straight from the realms of science fiction.
The Five Pillars of Bawadi; via BIG.
4. The Five Pillars by BIG Architects
Bjarke Ingels Group has seen many forward-thinking proposals come to life in recent times, but one of the firm’s most futuristic proposals remains a concept — for now. The Five Pillars of Bawadi in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, forms an inverted city block, with tree-like towers supporting a public realm far above. The rendering style gives this gargantuan, cave-like structure an otherworldly appearance, the ground but a distant memory as we live our lives among the clouds.
Crater Scraper; via eVolo.
5. Crater Scraper by Xiaomiao Xiao, Lixiang Miao, Xinmin Li, and Minzhao Guo
While BIG’s concept raises the program into the sky, others imagine a future in which we must look down in search of environmental protection and sustainability. This entry for the eVolo skyscraper contest was designed within a world bombarded by asteroids and proposes architectural inventions that infill the resulting craters and harness geothermal energy to support human life. While the roofscape looks like something Japanese studio SANAA may have dreamt up, the luminous cityscape looks like the backdrop for an epic space opera.
Floating City; via CG Society.
6. Floating City Concept by Neil Maccormack
Renowned digital artist Neil Maccormack is often preoccupied with fantastical ruin porn, portraying intricately detailed spacecraft and post-industrial landscapes lost to the sands of time. However, he explores a more hopeful vision of the future, here: water, trees, and birds inhabit this ethereal environment, while levitating biospheres could have been designed by Grimshaw Architects or Foster + Partners. Meanwhile, a cityscape in the heavens provokes a double take: in space, which way is really up?
Future City; via Imagine.
7. Future City by Josue E. Perez
Finally, we end up in a world of pure fantasy — or do we? Some buildings within Josue Perez’s monumental metropolis look reminiscent of Minoru Yamasaki or SOM, and with density set to soar in cities around the world, perhaps we are closer to this reality than we realize. For now, though, this render has all the ingredients of a digital artist’s dream: lens flare, a setting sun, dramatic cloud formations, and some truly futuristic architecture. Forget “Back to the Future Part II” for a moment. According to cinematic chronology, “Blade Runner” is only five years away …
