Design effectively and efficiently

Learn how to use Blender for architectural design in this course that's suitable for complete beginners. The output of the course will be an office building with a ground floor art gallery podium.

During the course, you will learn how to model the project in completely non-destructive workflows. Why is this important? In the early stages of the design process, designs usually go through multiple iterations. Understanding workflows that allow you to be highly creative and maintain proceduralism will allow you to be a more effective and overall better designer.

At a glance: Complete Architecture masterclass structured around creating an office building with an art gallery podium
Type: Video Course, 4+ hours long, 12 Chapters, step-by-step instrucitons
Topics: Architecture modelling basics, non-destructive procedural modelling, asset-based workflows, Geometry Nodes, material basics, rendering, post processing, modeling interiors
Software: Blender, Affinity Photo (or Photoshop, or other raster editor).
Experience: complete beginners and for users with experience using Blender, wishing to improve architecture skills
Includes: Blender files for each course module, Affinity Designer and Darktable rendering files.
Your instructor: Dimitar Pouchnikov, AIA, professional architect in London with over 10 years experience working on international projects, Full Bio below

What you will Learn

”This course has helped me be a better designer. I have learned how to use Blender in a much more focused manner than I would have by watching various YouTube videos. Now I feel confident using Blender on my architectural projects..”

- Manuel Castro, Architect

Who is this course for?

This course is structured for designers and architects that wish to learn how to use Blender for architectural design.

It is equally suitable for both professionals and aspiring students that are looking for more creative ways to explore design directions.

The course is also suitable for artists that are looking to get an insight into the architectural design process. The workflows are useful for working with web3, metaverse,visualisations, game design, VFX, and any other industries that require architectural buildings.

Experience Level

The course is designed to be beginner friendly, covering all the necessary steps to get you working with Blender fast. No prior experience is required.

If you do have some prior experience in Blender and you are looking to expand your knowledge in the fields of architectural design, then this course will also be of significant value to you.

Masterclass structure - 12 chapters

You will learn the complete process of designing and presenting an architectural concept with Blender through creating a setting up, sketching and creating a massing, and presenting with post-processed renderings.

The course is broken up into multiple chapters.

The first chapter focuses on a quick "getting started guide", a more detailed UI walkthrough, and mesh modelling basics.

The next chapters deal with modelling the context and the building project. This is the core of the masterclass, where you will learn how to set up non-destructive workflows for creating multiple building elements, so that you can easily adjust your building with a few parameter adjustments. You will also learn how to create a contextual setting that creates a site for the building. We will work through creating the context, sketching a massing and creating an eye-catching podium, generating a non-destructive modular building, learning how to use geometry nodes, adding assets from free resources directly within Blender.

In the last series of chapters, you will learn how to create presentable images with both Eevee and Cycles. Through the process, you will learn about the important rendering, material, and environment settings to create presentable images.

You will also learn how to set up camera views, camera fly-throughs, and post processing with Blender, Affinity Photo, and Darktable (open source Lightroom alternative).

After this course, you will be able to:
• Spend less time to convert your ideas into architectural concepts
• Effectively use Blender for architectural design
• Transform you visions into 3D models
• Work efficiently with easy-to-use non-destructive workflows
• Present your work convincingly

€145 €65

”Before this masterclass, architectural design felt like a puzzle missing a few pieces. But learning Blender's non-destructive workflows transformed the way I approach projects.

Now, I effortlessly translate my ideas into detailed 3D models, and my presentations have taken on a new level of confidence and professionalism. This course has not only refined my skills but also given me a newfound confidence in bringing my architectural visions to life..”

-Isabella Taylor, Architecture student

This is the final rendered result you will get to by completing this course.

Of course, as already mentioned the final result you will get is only part of the value from this course.

The rest is the complete workflows you will learn from all the chapters that will allow you to confidently work with Blender and realise your architectural ideas!

FInal Result

12. Post Processing with Darktable

Darktable is an open source alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It provides many settings that are highly useful for post processing rendered images.

Darktable's completely non-destructive workflows fit nicely with the procedural techniques being explored in the rest of the course, and as an open-source software, it allows you to get straight in and significantly improve your images.

Darktable has a complete history tool, which makes it great for comparing different snapshots and editions of your rendered images.

11. Post Processing with Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo is currently the best budget friendly alternative to Photoshop, as it provides robust photo editing capabilities with more adjustment layers than Photoshop provides.

Here we will go through the process of post processing the raw image in Photo, taking into account the all useful settings that can help push the fidelity of the rendered image.

The fundamentals you will learn here are applicable with any other photo editing app, including the good old (but expensive) Photoshop.

9. Further rendering refinements

Creating renderings that illustrate the project typically requires many tweaks, adjustments, and further refinements. In this chapter, we continue to refine the materials, rendering settings, and the environment. In particular, you will learn different ways of adjusting glass materials to make them fit well with the project and the scene

10. Rendering and post processing with Blender

Once all the refinements are complete, the scene is ready for a final render with Cycles and you will learn how to post-process the rendered image with Blender’s compositor. You will also learn why and when it may be useful to use Blender's compositor for post-processing.

8. Geometry nodes

Geometry Nodes are Blender's answer to Grasshopper and Houdini for procedural modelling. The toolset is new, exciting, still greatly evolving, and presents excellent new modelling opportunities for architectural design.

In this chapter, you will learn the fundamentals of using Geometry Nodes through a few exercises. This first is adding shrubs. Nature elements can slow your system down notoriously and even crash it. You will learn how to control your viewport and rendering settings when creating instances that look realistic and don't kill your computer.

Next we will look at more advanced, but fundamental use of geometry nodes by creating a brick wall that deforms based on an attractor.

This module's Geometry nodes examples have been updated to work with the latest geometry nodes system in Blender. By the end of this module, you should have a good grasp on how to work with Geometry Nodes for architectural design.

7. Rendering with Cycles

Cycles, Bleder's included ray-tracing engine can output excellent rendered results. Useful for both diagrams and more refined renderings, working with Cycles is essential for any architectural design.

In this module, you will learn how to set up cycles materials, world and rendering settings to allow you to output optimal results.

With such good results from Eevee, you might wonder, why use Cycles at all? The ray-tracing rendering engine excels in a few areas, particularly shadows, reflections, and transparencies.

White renders without much materials and images with glass and reflections typically look much better with Cycles.

6. Rendering with Eevee and animated Fly-throughs

Here you will learn all the necessary settings to render well with Eevee, Blender's real-time rendering engine. Eevee is highly useful for concept sketches, screen grabs and animations.

You will learn how to set up Eevee including material tweaks and rendering settings so you can get optimal settings and output in real time.

Additionally, due to its speed, Eevee is excellent for creating fly-throughs that show the model in more detail. You will learn how to create basic fly through including animation

4. Modelling refinements

Once the base core, shell, and facade massing is done, it is time to start adding further details that will assist in exploring and portraying the architectural concept.

Continuing with the explorations of procedural workflows, you will learn how to create interior walls that automatically add weight and trim to the designated ceiling.

You will also learn how to work with some of the most popular asset repositories in Blender that have direct integrations. You will be able to populate your models with architectural assets that help add a sense of scale and proportions to your models. An absolute essential that instantly improves architectural massings with the minimal amount of effort.

5. Rendering basics

With the core modelling complete, it is time to delve into presentation. The best concept in the world may not be appreciated if it isn't presented well.

In this chapter, you will learn how to set up camera views and expand on the knowledge already built on generating materials from Chapter 2 (Modelling the context). Working with cameras allows you to save views that can be referenced later. Aspect ratios, clip distances, and camera field of views shall be covered in this chapter.

Once the basic massing is complete, it's time to create our core and shell concept by converting that massing to a beautiful architectural design. Here you will learn how to create a completely procedural podium by learning how to generate the architectural elements.

You will be learning how to create the wrap-around podium roof first and then how to create a parametric curtain wall that adjusts itself based on the boundaries of the wrap-around element.

2. Modelling the context and adding materials

In this chapter, you will create a context consisting of a road, pavement, and grass/plot area. As the first foray into procedural workflows in the course, you will learn how to use modifiers for efficient site adjustments. This non-destructive approach allows the expansion of the site to grow easily depending on the project's needs.

You will also learn the fastest way of adding and editing materials. Both image based materials and basic procedural materials are covered, as typically a combination of both gives the best results and helps prevent tiling.

3. Modelling the project

With a foundational understanding of Blender and the context, the next step is getting into the core of the course: creating a concept building. This is the jelly in the sandwich, without which, well we have two pieces of bread with no taste ;) You will learn how to create the massing with the help of sketching directly in Blender.

Sketching on top of 3d models is absolutely essential for progressing concept ideas faster. And the ability to create quick sketches in the same software used for 3d modeling significantly speeds up the design process.

Throughout the process, as many modelling steps as possible are done non-destructively with modifiers. This is essential for speeding up the process of architectural design, as concepts constantly evolve, and instead of remodelling, the modifier-based approach allows continuous refinements without complex setups.

1. Getting Started and project setup

This chapter includes a quick getting started guide, UI overview, and a primer on mesh editing. You will learn the most essential settings that are useful to adjust while working in Blender for architectural design. And in case you are completely new to Blender, the mesh editing chapters will give you a solid foundation that you will quickly follow up in the next lessons.

You will also learn about essential free addons that are useful for architectural design, and further resources that can assist you with the design and presentation process.

Detailed Chapter Description

€145 €65

Dimitar is an experienced architect, designer, and educator with over 13 years professional experience. He is driven by the desire to create beautiful spaces, buildings, and cities that work excellently for all users. His design philosophy is based on creating beautiful architecture through the intersection of design, creating a sense of place, and technology. This philosophy drives both his professional and academic research.

With most of his experience gained while working at distinguished architecture offices in London, Dimitar understands the architectural design process wholeheartedly. Having led teams as a project designer, he is aware how to communicate to both professionals and to clients successfully. He has and continues to communicate design visions confidently that manifest into beautiful and functional projects.

Dimitar knows that the proper architectural design process is demanding and rigorous, necessitating many revisions and parallel design explorations. He is grateful to have worked in teams that have taught him and enabled him to execute this proper design process - balancing beauty, function, user requirements, buildability, vision, and giving back.

Over the years, Dimitar has developed a balanced concept-driven design approach with industry-leading parametric design skills. Having the ability to move from a simple sketch to a complex 3d model quickly and effectively is an essential skill to move through design ideas efficiently. In this manner, finding the right mix of design ideas is achieved as quickly as possible, without wasting time redrawing or re-modelling unnecessary and repetitive steps. At the same time, parametric design enables inserting greater design intelligence into projects while reducing the effort required to document project parameters for construction.

Dimitar aims to work as much as possible with free, open-source, and non-subscription tools like Blender, Rhino, Grasshopper, and Affinity that allow professionals to have access to their drawings and designs without the need to rent their software just to access previous designs.

Blender is an essential part of Dimitar’s software design toolkit and he is on a mission to show as many architects and designers its key strategic advantages. He shows various use cases on the UH Studio Design Academy youtube channel, teaches numerous courses through UHSDA, and frequently collaborates with the industry’s leading education platforms like PA Academy, Futurly, Dezact and others. Dimitar also speaks at international conferences about the advantages of using Blender as a design tool.

Professionally, Dimitar has worked on many typologies, ranging from Cultural, Commercial, Residential, Urban Design, Sport, Entertainment, Masterplanning, and High-rise/mega-tall buildings. Among others, he has worked at HOK and Adjaye Associates in London.

Dimitar holds a postgraduate M.Arch degree from the Architectural Association, Design Research Lab Programme and a 5 year professional B.Arch degree from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia.

Dimitar learned Maya at the DRL programme at the AA and realised that everything that Zaha designers were teaching us with Maya can be done with Blender, and even more! After graduating, he transferred over his newly acquired Maya design skills to Blender and has been further expanding them since.

Meet your instructor Dimitar Pouchnikov

Sketching design ideas in his studio for this course.

Dimitar presenting at Blender Conference in Amsterdam.

Mixed use project under construction.

Course Curriculum

€145 €65

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)