Digital Architectural Renderings

Remodeling a home can be an exciting but challenging undertaking. It is an opportunity to make your living space more functional, beautiful, and better aligned with your lifestyle needs.

However, it can also be stressful, as you have to consider numerous details and decisions, and the process can be costly and time-consuming. Fortunately, advances in technology have made the home remodeling process more manageable and efficient.

One of the most significant advances in this regard is the use of digital architectural renderings, which can provide significant benefits to those undertaking a home remodeling project. In this article, we will explore how a person who is remodeling their home can benefit from architectural imagery, specifically digital renderings.

What Are Digital Architectural Renderings?

Digital architectural renderings are computer-generated images that depict a proposed design for a space or building. These images can be two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) and can show a range of details, from the overall layout of a room to the texture of a specific material. Architects and designers use digital renderings to help clients visualize and understand their project before construction begins. The renderings can be created by a design professional or through software programs, depending on the complexity of the project.

There are many different reasons why you might decide to hire an architectural designer when building or remodeling your home. 

For one thing, you may have some municipal regulatory hoops to jump through, which only an architect can help with, such as when you need to submit official drawings for approval by the county or city you live in. 

But beyond that, it’s important to know exactly what an architectural designer does and can do for you aside from the obvious skill set.

In this post we will map out for you the benefits of hiring a professional home designer for your home project, and also the negative impacts of not seeking out this type of help.

Before beginning any design project, any architect worth their salt will sit down with a client and listen carefully, not only to hear what their living needs are, but to understand what their aesthetic is, what style of home they like, and HOW they like to live.

For example, what kind of home layout would a client most enjoy? And what type of physical environment are they most comfortable in? How many people will be inhabiting the house, and therefore how many rooms would they be needing? What type of energy sources do they prefer? What kind of lighting do they like? How would they like to heat and cool the house through the seasons, etc. etc. etc.

These are considerations that must be discussed upfront. Even if the client does not yet know the answers, they will begin thinking about what their options are and what is important to them. At the very least, you have started a necessary conversation before the building work begins.

Equally important to understanding a client’s living standards and needs is understanding what their home construction budget will be.

I cannot stress how important this is – communication between the designer and client is crucial, both before and throughout the design process. With regards to the budget limitations of a project, it will hinder and slow the design process if the architect does not completely understand both the costs of building methods and materials, and the actual construction budget of the client.

Being in the home design-and-build business for a long time, I’ve seen it happen – where a designer shows the design to the client, and, “Oh, that’s a big beautiful mahogany wood and subway tiled kitchen…but, we could never really afford that!” 

This is an important and not-so-often discussed aspect of what an experienced and talented architect can do for a client. 

As an architectural designer, I often tell my clients that if they use my home design services, they will make back every penny they spend on me. It seems like a ridiculous, hyperbolic statement, but in many cases, it’s true. Let me explain…

Sustainable Building Solutions = Energy Savings = Money Savings

If a home designer knows about alternative, sustainable building systems such as passive solar, water catchment, or geothermal heating and cooling, and can incorporate these systems in the design of a home, they can give the homeowner exponential energy cost savings in the future.

Especially now, with energy costs skyrocketing, and sustainable building systems becoming more standard and affordable, the potential to save money with alternative energy systems has never been more real. The implementation of well-designed energy systems in a home can mean a significant reduction in monthly heating, cooling, and electric costs, as well as a greater level of comfort for people living in the home. For example, the spacial orientation of a home, itself, can reduce temperature and humidity fluctuations, and therefore has the potential to affect living conditions within the home. It also can effectively reduce energy consumption, regardless of the type or amount of heating and cooling systems being used in the home.

There are numerous ways an architectural designer can tangibly help a client save money on their home. But, ultimately, it depends on the home designer – their experience and passion for designing homes that are sustainable and practical for the modern homeowner. The following are other ways an architect can help a person save money on their home:

• Integrity and durability of construction materials and methods used

• Using economical and sustainable materials where applicable

• Longevity – not having to rebuild or repair the house within the owner’s lifetime

• Future design change scenarios are considered and can be more easily implemented if needed

• Recommendations for quality contractors with reasonable rates – and builders that won’t make costly mistakes

• And so on…

In reality, there are so many things that can go wrong with the construction of a new home. If you decide to go it alone and refrain from hiring a professional to design your new home, know that there can be serious drawbacks.

Suffice it to say, it will most likely cost you more in the long run if you do not hire a professional.

Things that can go wrong:

• Future troubles with the building inspectors – not meeting building requirements will generate costly fees.

• Not knowing about building standards and procedures, you may end up hiring a contractor who really doesn’t know what they’re doing. This is problematic in so many ways – to put it succinctly, it can make your life a living hell.

• You can end up with a home that is not energy efficient – because you just didn’t know about efficiency. And so your daily energy costs are way above what they really need to be.

• Builders make mistakes – often. If you let a builder make structural decisions without oversight from an engineer or architect, chances are good that they’ll get it wrong. As a result you can end up with a home that simply isn’t safe to live in.

• The layout you designed for your home may not, in reality, be the best solution for you. An experienced architectural designer will know to ask you the right questions. Not having this type of professional help with a home design can often lead to a homeowner going, “Oh, why didn’t I do it that way!”

…And so it goes – you may have good intentions, wanting to save money and do it your way. You might have some design skills, and, how hard can it be, really? Well, if you decide to take a chance and go this route, who knows, you might get lucky, but we at DPS Design emphatically do not recommend it 🙂

Rustic Home Design in Portugal 3 … This post shows the final build of our rustic home design. The existing farmhouse, being over 200 years old, is now a restored Portuguese xisto stone and wood home.

Rustic Home Design in Portugal 3 – Here we show the living room and kitchen that are combined in an open floor plan with a mezzanine above. There are two sources of wood heating on this floor – one standard wood burner and another wood burning stove for cooking and central heating via water heated radiators. The feel of the wood and Portuguese xisto stone is open and refined casual. 

The master bathroom has a brand new xisto stone floor, with antique clawfoot bathtub, an open shower, and elements from the original building (the chestnut ladder, and shelves built from old wood beams). As you can see, the wall stones on the north wall are black from centuries of smoking meats – this was the old kitchen area from the original building.

The third, mezzanine floor consists of one master bedroom and one smaller child’s bedroom with interior windows, and skylights in the vaulted ceiling above. There is a wooden railing that lines the entire floor for safety, matching the railing below. A door could be placed between the two bedrooms in the stone wall for extra privacy, but in this case it wasn’t necessary.

There are 4 entrances to the building, on the West, South, and East sides, with the main entrance from the road entering directly into the open living area. The wood and stone stairs to the first floor are just inside this entrance. These chestnut wood doors are at least a century old, if not more, and have been completely restored.

The exterior of the house is kept simple and traditional, as it was when the house was originally built. The xisto stone, which was found beneath layers of lime covering, is unpointed. The chestnut lintels are restored and sealed from the weather. The roof is laid with modern Portuguese terra cotta tiles with a traditional edging which keeps the historic feel of the house. The windows have been replaced with traditional chestnut wood, with single paned, double-glazed windows facing the Western side of the house for extra insulation from cold winters. The interior shutters found in the original house may be replaced with exterior wooden shutters at a later time. Additionally, the chestnut wood doors have been restored or replaced.

The overall architectural design of this 200 year old home is rustic, yet comfortable. The pine wood floors, walls, and exposed chestnut beams give the home design a tactile, timeless feel, as if it could have been built a hundred years prior. The antique furniture found in the house before renovation have been restored, though some of the contemporary furniture pieces and appliances lend the space a modern, practicality. The combined result is modern rustic design similar to many American barn conversions.

Thanks for following our blog post, Rustic Home Design in Portugal 3, and the series on Rustic Home Designs in Portugal. We hope you found some inspiration for your own home projects. For other related blog posts, check out the following:

Rustic Home Design – Honoring our Ancestors’ Home Designs

The Converted Barn House

Rustic House Design in Portugal, part 2. Photos of our process of restoring an old house in the Serra do Açor mountains. The existing stone farmhouse was at least 200 years old when purchased, and was in need of a full makeover.

Part 2 of our Rustic House Design in Portugal blog series begins with this photo – the old farmhouse interior, which shows 6 relatively small rooms in the main section of the house, adjoining a central hallway. Most of the wood was rotting and had been eaten away by insects.

The old keys to the doors…

The first project was to gut the building – to take out everything including all the floors, the wood and plaster lathe walls and ceiling/roof, and removing the lime from the stone walls.

Fortunately many of the beams were still good, including some of the rafters, and they’ll be kept in place for the new roof. These chestnut beams and roof boards are at least 200 years old, so it wasn’t a surprise that many of them had been destroyed by powder-post beetles over the years and will need to be replaced.

This was the old kitchen after the walls had been knocked out. The stone walls were black, due to the tradition of smoking pork meat which hung from the ceiling, on an open fire with only a small window in the corner of the room for ventilation.

This photo shows the original xisto stone after the lime, or ‘cal,’ had been removed. Beautiful old xisto stonework that was mostly straight and plumb, and not needing much structural work.

The house, finally gutted except for the floors and roof, begins to show off its old xisto stone walls. These will need to be pointed with new lime.

While waiting for the construction crew to show up, we decided to go ahead with pouring the footings for the new stone patio on the second stone terrace, just downhill from the house.

Here is the house after most of the foundational construction work, painting, and stone pointing had been done. The electric lines and plumbing are now installed inside the xisto walls and wood and stone floors. The look is barebones and spacious, with everything ready for the interior woodwork to begin.

To see the final design, stay tuned for our third blog post installment of the Rustic House Design in Portugal…

To see more rustic house designs, go here:

Rustic Home Design – Honoring our Ancestors’ Home Designs

The Converted Barn House

Before and after photos of our Rustic Home Design in Portugal. The original building is located in the Serra do Açor mountains in the Central part of the country. The existing farmhouse is around 200 years old, with original xisto stone and chestnut lintels and beams intact.

The existing building, around 2 centuries old, sits on a hill in the Serra do Açor mountains, in a small village.

View from the back of the house into the valley below – a walnut tree forest dots the entire property which is sandwiched between to olive tree farms.

The new remodel design for the house includes an open floor plan, vaulted ceiling, and barn-style loft / mezzanine. All stone walls remain intact, with a new doorway in the mezzanine wall to the master bedroom. Rustic Home Design in Portugal –redesign and Renderings by DPS Design.

A second option for the home design includes a small bedroom located on the west side of the mezzanine. Five skylights will go on the roof.

The kitchen has been relocated to the other side of the stone wall, its original location, to become part of the open plan living area beneath the mezzanine. There will be a new wood stove / oven which will be more heat for the house in cold winters, in addition to a large wood stove located in the living room.

The master bathroom sits in the location of the former kitchen, using the entire space of this building section – a very spacious bathroom. Clawfoot tub, an antique sink cabinet, old-school elevated tank toilet, and shelves made from the existing chestnut wood found in the building.

The basement rooms where animals were once kept and wine stored, becomes a guest bedroom, sauna room, small bathroom, and laundry and storage room. Two of the stone walls are to be cut in half to create an access hallway for the rooms from inside the house. The remaining stone from the walls will be used in other areas of the building, including the new stone staircases.

The backyard now includes a curved stone patio with chestnut beam pergola.

Stay tuned for part two of this post, where we show actual photos of construction and the final house design….

To see more of our rustic home designs, check out these posts:

Rustic Home Design – Honoring our Ancestors’ Home Designs

The Converted Barn House

This post is an homage to rustic home design, an appreciation of our heritage, and of the beauty and practicality of the homes of our ancestors. Specifically, this post focuses on early American design and architecture – how we understand it and incorporate it into modern architectural design: farm houses, barn conversions, barn style homes, and rustic home design, mainly.

We at The DPS Design love design that has spanned generations, design which has tested time, whose utility remains intact, though maybe not as relevant is it once was.

The materials that were used to make homes mostly no longer exist. The beams that hold up this house were hewn from local trees, probably from this plot of land. The furniture was built out of forest trees, chestnut and oak, and maple – old hardwoods that were first or second growth forests.

As a barn, this was once a home for domestic animals of course, and homes were not traditionally built this way for the most part. Early northeastern architecture was more “colonial” – the functions of the home were different and so was the culture. Open layout homes were only seen in part in communities such as Amish or Shaker, and traditional farm houses had smaller rooms, which were easier to heat and keep cool, and housed many people. Today, our ideas about ‘home’ have changed dramatically from the ideas of our ancestors.

When we reuse materials such as wood that came from old buildings, to build barn conversion homes, modern farm houses, or rustic barn homes, we not only save trees, we breathe new life into our pasts and into the lives of those that came before us. We can design in a way that facilitates our modern living needs, while honoring traditions of cultures of the past.