Gabriel Saunders has been named Winner at New York’s Architizer A+Firm Awards 2021 in the Best Rendering Studio category.
The award recognises outstanding achievements by the studio and excellence in their field. Gabriel Saunders submitted a number of projects, both local and international.
“The award represents the work of the whole studio and the contributions made by our diverse team to produce excellent work for our clients”, Costa Gabriel says. “Our team is very proud to be part of this Award, and to be recognised globally”.
In this growing industry, the skills and talents of various studios around the world are constantly improving and the benchmark to create beautiful and realistic imagery is set very high. “It would be surprising to many the amount of thinking and work that goes into creating a set of images to evoke an emotive response” says Veronica “but we always say that you are only as good as your last job so that keeps us motivated to constantly improve”.
“Winning the Award has been a moment to share with our clients. Receiving the recognition of a Studio Award celebrates the great outcomes that are possible when you work together with a clear vision of a project” Veronica adds.
“It was a difficult decision to choose the projects to submit for this award”, Costa says. “The clients that we work with are an intelligent group of people. Our job is to harness this and realise their work as beautifully as we can”.
Gabriel Saunders submitted five projects to represent the studio’s work in 3D Visualisation. The projects ranged in size, location and design styles to give an indication of the varying technical and creative approaches used to create unique looking projects.
Huntingtower Road
The Huntingtower Road project for long standing clients Orchard Piper and architects Jolson captures the work of some of Melbourne’s best design studios. Gabriel Saunders immediately knew that they were working on something special when this project was first briefed by the project team. The approach from the outset was to represent the project in the purest and most honest form - real. The client group, which also included landscape architect Myles Baldwin, interior stylist Tamsin Johnson and branding agency Studio Ongarato, were confident in their design and brief and then put their trust into the studio to realise their work. As with all projects, a critical step is the first research step whereby the studio studies the collaborators, especially their built work, so that they can confidently represent their intentions. All collaborators had a key influence on the project. Architectural photographer Shannon McGrath was also invited to work with the visualisers to further ground the project in a sense of reality. The end result is a project displayed in absolute honesty, rendered as architectural photography.
The Residences, Dorchester Collection, Dubai by Omniyat
The Residences, Dorchester Collection, a project in Dubai for Omniyat was a remarkable project for the studio to work on both in terms of design and scale. Designed by Foster and Partners, the architecture of the building has a presence that feels almost light by utilising cantilever forms, protruding fins and neutral material palette. The lightness is amazing considering the sheer scale of the development. The interior spaces were designed by Gilles & Boissier, with luxury finishes throughout 8 metre high ceilings and custom designed furniture. Our brief was to ensure that the spaces felt inviting and residential, so our Styling team curated items for additional layers to ensure that came across. The styling was in keeping with the branding direction created by Fifth Estate NYC, which was very much driven by luxury fashion and opulent spaces. The final set of images are clearly a considered collection that combine the language of the architecture, interiors and vision of the developer and branding agency.
Ruskin Street, Elwood
The studio also included the Ruskin Street project for Hip vs Hype, a Melbourne developer with a unique approach of creating authentic and sustainable developments. From the outset the studio knew this would be a great collaboration as the values of Hip vs Hype align with those of architecture firm Fieldworks - who are known for their Australian sensitivity with a Japanese influence. The team visited the project site and took extensive photographs of the canal and the beautiful established trees to be replicated. The studio’s preference is to create landscapes in 3D, rather than use a photographic montage, as this results in ultimate control of the lighting thereby proving to be a more realistic outcome with the shadows on the building and the site being accurately represented. The interior spaces were curated by the Gabriel Saunders styling team, using collections from local furniture suppliers and curated props to furnish the space. These carefully selected elements spoke to the buyer and to bayside living and created a look and feel that was relaxed and natural that aligned with the look and feel of the external environment.
The International
The Award submission also included The International project, a new standard for the residential apartment experience, by the development team V-Leader and Landream Property. What immediately differentiates this project is the arrival and communal space, designed by CARR architects and interior designers. The building's solid external form on street level, transforms upon entering the building. The building appears to float as you move into the building where the ground floor communal area is enclosed in a series of beautifully detailed glass boxes. The landscape architecture (meticulously designed by Tract) and interior spaces work seamlessly together, creating an experience that blurs inside and out. We invited international architectural photographer Sharyn Cairns into our studio to compose the cameras as she has photographed many of CARR’s projects and brought her inherent knowledge about how to best capture the designers intent. The glass boxes are delicately detailed so that they appear to almost float on the water feature with the subtle reflections of glass and water further enhancing the connection of internal and external spaces. Glass, water and reflections are elements that are traditionally considered difficult to achieve in 3D as they often look fake and the studio knew that these elements would need to be realistic in order for the views to be successful. The end result definitely achieves that realness and also successfully captures the beautiful work of the talented design team.
The jury’s commendation, not only recognised the technical capabilities of the studio but the studio’s collaborative approach with both internal and external teams to achieve great work. “Our work and our approach has resonated with the judges at an international level and we just couldn’t ask for more than that”, Veronica says. “It also speaks to the high calibre of work happening in Melbourne. We have worked on many local projects that are of such a high standard. There is definitely a culture of strong design in Melbourne”.
The Architizer A+Firm Awards 250+ jury includes leaders of the design and architecture community industries as well as many esteemed members from the technology, media, art and technology communities.
Judges included Kelly Wearstler, Founder Kelly Wearstler Interior Design, Virgil Abloh Chief Creative Director and founder of Off-White and Men’s Artistic Director at Louis Vuitton, Charles Renfro Partner, Diller Scofido + Renfro, David Rockwell, Principal, David Rockwell Group, Michel Rojkind, Founding Partner, Rojkind Arqitectos, Little Wing Lee, Designer and Founder, Studio & Projects Little Wing Lee; Design Director, Ace Hotel Group, Debbie Millman, Designer, Educator, Podcast Host, Shohei Shigematsu, Partner, OMA and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries.