In 2020, artist and designer Charlotte Taylor and architect Riccardo Fornoni unveiled Villa Saraceni. Perched on the white cliffs of Scala dei Turchi in southern Sicily, the sculptural house, which appears to be floating on the seashore, “has become semi-popular,” Taylor said. Immediately, I was flooded with messages about the project. “I got a lot of requests for photos,” Taylor recalls. “People have been asking us if they can rent a villa,” Fornoni added. However, some people complained about the site being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I also received a message saying, “People said they went to the villa to play… but they weren’t there.”
It’s not there. “This villa doesn’t exist in reality. We had a dream and visualized it digitally,” says Fornoni, who is based in the northern Italian city of Mantua. Villa Saraceni exists only in the Metaverse as a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) rendering. Long used as a means to bring real-world architectural and interior plans to life, digital technology has recently taken on a life of its own. In the hands of a new generation of creators, these become tools for exploring escapist fantasies. A shiny glass box floats on the water. Bond-worthy hideouts are carved into caves, and space-age orbs glide around distant galaxies. They are mesmerizing and intriguing images, ranging from the stunningly surreal to the horrifyingly realistic.
Villa del Soffio in Puglia, by Nicolaas Préaud and Charlotte Taylor © Nicholaas Préaud & Charlotte Taylor
Rendering was first tentatively used in the 1970s and 1980s, when early iterations of 3D software were used to create Zaha Hadid’s Hong Kong high-rise, which was never actually (probably) built. It was used to visualize architectural projects such as ‘The Peak’. “The renderings have always had a stylized feel to them, either very Blade Runner, dystopian, or ultra-clean architectural visualization,” Taylor suggests. “A lot of people create completely idealized spaces with no trace of human life, but I like it to be a little messy, a little character, and a Sudoku on the table. .”
Making furniture is labor-intensive and expensive. Would you like to try it in virtual space?
Taylor, a former illustrator, came to work this way “by chance.” I discovered rendering software while creating trompe l’oeil style illustrations of architecture. “I was fascinated by how an idea could be made to look so real,” she says. “And then it started moving…” Driven by the isolation of 2020’s lockdown, she founded design studio Maison de Sable (Sand House), collaborating with a number of digital artists to bring her hand-drawn ideas to life. I started doing it. I am rapidly progressing from imagining a single scene to imagining an entire house. “It became a bit of an obsession. It gave me the freedom to play and experiment.”
Residency in Joshua Tree National Park, California by Charlotte Taylor & Alba de la Fuente © Charlotte Taylor & Alba de la Fuente
The results include The Residency, a concrete minimalist dream in Joshua Tree National Park, realized with Madrid-based Alba de la Fuente. Surrounded by the lush French countryside of Lozère, the all-avocado-green Villa Ortisette, with its ’70s-style circular sunken sofa, is the home of Marseille-based ZYVA Studio (self-proclaimed Anthony Authier). This is a collaboration with “The Comical Architecture Studio”, which was founded by the company. ”. On the banks of the Atibaia River in São Paulo, Casa Atibaia is a lush, curved, glass-walled structure balanced on a rock. A nod to Lina Bo Bardi’s Brazilian modernism, It was created in collaboration with French architect Nicolas Préault.
“Floating Retreat” by Nicholas Préaud & Charlotte Taylor © Nicholas Préaud & Charlotte Taylor
“All the projects that Charlotte and I have worked on are fictional and dream-like,” Préault says. “But it is always designed and thought through so that the project can actually be built.” Each digital realm is months in the making, and for Préaud is primarily “research applied to real-life commissioned projects.” It works.
Architect de la Fuente, who worked at Ricardo Bofill’s Barcelona studio, says he creates “architecture of images.” As a new graduate, she explains: “This was a very powerful tool to show people what I can do. For me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s real or not. What’s interesting is the concept behind it. This is the future of architecture. I think it will be.”
Corben Dallas room by Bureau Benjamin in Design Dreams: Virtual Interiors and Architectural Environments © Bureau Benjamin
Brands are also increasingly open to staging their products virtually. Sustainability is the main driving force behind the digital set design he created for textile brand Kirkby Design, suggests Fornoni. “Moving a couch from one place to another doesn’t create any CO2,” he says.
Making furniture is labor-intensive and expensive. Would you like to try it in virtual space?
But the motivation for designing virtual realms can be more poetic. When Taylor created his first furniture collection, which was exhibited in person at Lisbon’s gallery Garcé & Dimofski in 2022, he also created a virtual architect named Casa de Formas, which featured a two-tone daybed alongside other designers’ works. was exhibited. “We aimed to create something truly unique, without constraints,” says co-founder Olivier Garce. “As a gallery that works with the best artisans, we wanted to bring that expertise into a dreamlike environment.”
Bedroom at Casa Atibaia on the banks of the Atibaia River in São Paulo, by Nicholas Préaud and Charlotte Taylor © Nicholas Préaud and Charlotte Taylor
Online platforms like DecoHub are driving a digital-first agenda. In 2022, Paris-based design marketplace Monde Singulier began showcasing its collection in a purely virtual space. “But once a piece is commissioned, it is actually made,” says architect and designer Beni Allan. His oak and steel slab coffee table is part of the Mondosinglier world. “My furniture takes a lot of energy and effort to make and is very expensive. Why not test it in a virtual space?”
The surreal splendor of the virtual world will surely enchant you. “The idea of dreaming is really important,” says Jen Ellis, who co-founded Aora, a virtual gallery that brings together art, architecture, and music, with Alan. “Virtualization is not a compromise. It’s where you feel the excitement.”
Living room of a mansion on Lake Vattan, by Alba de la Fuente, co-created with Andrés Reisinger © Alba de la Fuente / Andrés Reisinger
“It’s escapism,” Taylor says. His Instagram accounts (@charlottetaylr and @maison_de_sable, where she shares her own work and the work of others) have about 581,000 followers combined. She also brings virtual worlds to print in her book Design Dreams: Virtual Interiors and Architectural Environments (Chronicle Books). “I was a kid obsessed with The Sims, and I still have it on my computer. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of fictional people living in fictional homes.”
Although some digital images are presumed to be genuine, another problem has recently become more serious. “People often think that 3D imagery is AI,” Taylor says. “I also share my AI explorations[on my Instagram account]so I don’t want to add to the confusion.”
Monde Singulier exclusive stamp by Christophe Perichon © Monde Singulier/Sébastien Baert
RIBA’s (Royal Institute of British Architects) AI Report 2024, the first of its kind, found that 41% of architectural practices have implemented artificial intelligence to some extent. “The way we turn ideas from imagination to reality has changed dramatically,” said architect Carlos Banyon Blazquez, director of the Architectural Intelligence Laboratory at Singapore University of Technology. He uses AI to “delineate some values of architectural possibilities” using unique visual “prompts” including sketches and 3D models. Whether it’s dramatically angular, colorful concrete structures or expansive glass facades set in rock formations, “I’m trying to provoke a reaction,” he adds.
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For Johan Hibschmann, who teaches at University College London’s Bartlett School of Architecture, AI is “a useful tool to generate options. For example, give me six floor plans for skyscrapers. Then I can change ” he said. “What we’re a little bit afraid of is that one beautiful image that isn’t necessarily considered architectural.”
For Taylor, fantasy is increasingly becoming reality. Works that began virtually became physical furniture, such as the sturdy chairs she made from thick pine for Garce and Dimovsky. In London, I collaborated with Alan to design the interior of the newly opened listening bar Space Talk. Housing construction is also progressing from Puglia to Utah.
In fact, architects Fornoni, Preault, and de la Fuente all agree that the ultimate goal is to make their vision a reality. Fornoni is currently working on an interior project in Lanzarote. It’s inspired by previous digital projects, but “to actually be able to do it feels like a dream come true. Once it’s built, it’s something completely different.”
