The London Modern Villa,
London.

A contemporary luxury residence in London, sustainable architecture with a green roof, designed as a seamless blend of minimalist interiors and textured white-brick exteriors.

Interior design and architecture by Juliana Giaffreda. My remit covered the visualization side end to end: modeling, lighting, materials, and final imagery, eleven photoreal renders covering exterior elevations, interior key spaces, and two balcony lighting variations (day and night).

The brief

A contemporary luxury residence in London: sustainable architecture with a green roof, minimalist interiors, and textured white-brick exteriors. The render set had to work as both a design sign-off document and marketing imagery, which meant photographic realism rather than a stylized look. Eleven renders were scoped: four exterior elevations including a drone aerial, five interior key spaces, and two lighting variations of the balcony.

As with every project, camera angles, lighting hours, and finishes were agreed at brief stage, with framing signed off at block-out before any material or lighting work began.

Software and pipeline

The set was built in Blender, 3ds Max, and SketchUp, with post-production in Photoshop. Modeling started from Juliana's plans and elevations; three camera angles were proposed per scene and locked before materials. Final renders shipped at print resolution with layered Photoshop files, so the studio could make in-house adjustments without a revision round trip.

Materials and lighting

The exterior hinged on two materials: the textured white brick and the green roof. Getting the planting right, and the way light hit the brick, took real iteration; brick texture reads completely differently at midday than in low sun, and the render hour was chosen to bring out the relief of the coursing. Lighting throughout was built hour-by-hour against the building's true orientation, so the light in each render is the light that elevation will actually receive.

Interiors follow the same discipline. The kitchen and dining space was tuned for early afternoon to catch the joinery texture and the cast of light through the rear glazing. The master bathroom is a calm, stone-led palette where the render emphasizes material continuity from floor to wall; the spec was photographic, not stylized.

What was delivered

• Four exterior renders: front, rear, and side elevations plus a drone aerial, all in true site context
• Five interior renders: kitchen and dining area, lounge, master bedroom, and master bathroom
• Two balcony lighting variations: a daytime view showing the planting and city context, and a nighttime variation tuned for warmth and the architectural lighting scheme
• Print-resolution files with layered PSDs for in-house adjustment

Outcome

The front elevation and the aerial view remain personal favourites from the whole practice. The collaboration continued directly into a second commission: The Nordic Woodland Retreat, a six-render exterior set in the Cotswolds for the same architect.

Considering a similar set? See interior rendering and exterior rendering, or start a project.