Wembley Business Centre
The Brief
Project commissioned by Concept Stadium, working closely with RE/MAX, Malta as the end-client.
Converting an iconic landmark- an old Ice Cream Factory, into a multi-floor office space for rent while retaining it's original facade. The client wanted an animation and some render stills to use for its portfolio and promotions by highlighting the primary areas: Lobby, Office Open Space, Terraces, Underground Parking, CEO & Views and Facade.
The Final Animation- Wembley Business Centre
Project commissioned by Concept Stadium, working closely with RE/MAX, Malta. Converting an iconic landmark- an old Ice Cream Factory. into a multi-floor office space for rent while retaining it's original facade.
Final Renders with Post Production
Main Lobby
CEO Office with view
Underground Parking- Level-1
Underground Parking- Level-2
Penthouse Office- Open Plan Layout
Penthouse Office- Open Plan Layout- Alternate Angle
Facade- Angle 1
Facade- Frontal
Production Stage
Since this was technically an iconic building, the conditions for development required that the existing facade be kept as is, without any major alterations save for any restoration works required. The client was very keen on the final renders and animation being as close as possible to the final finish; it had to be a good representation.
With the elevation plans and floor plans at hand I was able to begin modeling the space starting with the facade, and later moved to stage the interior spaces for the animation.
The design for the interior (finishings, furnishings and layout) was left up to me. The client provided a couple of reference images which showcased an industrial / exposed ceiling style, together with a vast open-plan layout. That was enough to get the ball rolling; however there were instances were the finish was too far from what the client originally had in mind (such as polished concrete for the underground parking), which we were able to change following an iteration check-point.
Once I had a good foundation and bounced off a few queries to the client I was able to put a storyboard together.
Animation Storyboard
Once the model had been quasi-finished I was able to take screenshots of the viewport which I put into a storyboard for the client. I was able to present primary key-frames and walk them through my proposed animation. Other than the fact that there was a minor scope-change- where they decided to removed the large clock from the facade, the client was pleased to see the primary spaces were being represented and agreed to move forward. Click on the PDF icon to see the storyboard presentation.
Animation Production
With the storyboard confirmed, I was able to plan out the camera angles and set milestone key-frames. This allowed me to stage the scenes a lot more efficiently, as I was able to identify what was extra or missing from each shot.
Once the primary rooms (Facade, Lobby, Garage, etc) were broken down into separate files and cleaned of any unnecessary detail for a faster render, I began optimizing my modifiers and textures, and playing with the level of detail in the background to not overbear the GPU.
I made sure that a couple of seconds of extra animation / spillover as allotted before and after the start of each sequence which made life during video-editing a lot more forgiving, especially since I hadn't settled on the choice of music, yet.
Eventually the animation chunks were brought into Blender's video editor, were some cut and paste magic was done all the while trying to keep the scenes flowing evenly with complimentary, royalty free music.
Submission
The project was completed over the course of three (3) months following a number of set-backs from the client's side, which meant a remodeling of once of the office spaces which had already been completed and a delay with the logo for the business centre. Overall it was a monumental task and the first of it's kind for me, many practical lessons were learned and many late nights observing the animations progression were had, but ultimately it was very pleased to be involved in a project of this scale in a freelance capacity.
I recently rode through the neighborhood and took a detour to spot-check the progress of the building, and while it's not finished yet, it looked quite familiar! It's always rewarding to see a degree of fidelity between render and reality.