Vail Valley Home Magazine
The Art of Architectural Rendering
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Vail Valley Home, September 2025 · Written by Kimberly Nicoletti
This Vail Valley Home feature looks at how digital renderings have changed the way architects present a design. Brandt Shwayder, LEED AP, senior project designer at Sipes Architects in Minturn, explains that an image that once took one or two nights to render now takes minutes, so the team uses 3D views as working tools while a home is being designed rather than as a finished product. The firm often starts with neutral “clay model” renderings so clients can judge form, layout and proportion before materials are chosen, then renders options for decisions such as countertops or a stone-and-steel fireplace. Danielle Hrdina of Sipes Architects describes adding a client’s own furniture and art to renderings, and notes that renderings can speed up material selection but never replace seeing and touching materials in person.
“Nowadays, that same type of image can be rendered in a matter of minutes.”
— Brandt Shwayder, Sipes Architects
Published in Vail Valley Home. The full article appears below.
Digital renderings offer another way to illustrate what a design project will look like.
