THIRD PRIZE WINNER!
Wasif Ajwad, Razin Sachi & Salma Sadia
Bangladesh
Wasif Ajwad
B. Arch Student, Level 4, Term 2, BUET
A Graphic Designer turned Architecture student, Wasif blends design, psychology, and history to create functional, meaningful spaces. Specializing in architectural visualization and 3D modeling, he combines creative storytelling with technical precision.
Razin Sachi
B. Arch Student, Level 4, Term 2, BUET
Razin focuses on designing spaces that prioritize people, culture, and sustainability while respecting historical context. He is passionate about architectural history, environmental sustainability, and urban planning.
Salma Sadia
B. Arch Student, Level 3, Term 2, BUET
Salma is a design enthusiast exploring themes through research and evidence. Passionate about architectural visualization, 3D art, and storytelling, she merges creativity and compassion to create visual narratives that connect with both people and nature.
Interview with the Winner
Introduction
We’re three design enthusiasts currently pursuing our undergrad Architecture degree at university, all while seeking opportunities to flourish in visualization and creative exploration. While we come from the same department, we each hold different philosophies as independent individuals, which, interestingly enough, complement each other. As for our background in architectural visualization, we’ve been diving into this field since our freshman year, both academically and personally, even taking on professional visualization jobs.
Design Concept
The Citadel of Memorabilia is a conceptual interpretation of how we view our lives through the window of memories. Our goal was to capture the depth of emotions and feelings in architectural renderings, communicating these emotions in a vivid, tangible form. How we perceive our memories defines the emotions we carry with them, adding meaning and depth that we cherish in our hearts. The challenge was figuring out how to depict how we store and picture these memories in a way that truly provokes thought. So, we went with transparent blocks as the memory holders, with colors representing the emotions tied to each memory. By drawing incidents around the main character (whom we lovingly named Elma), we took her on a journey through the complexities of emotions.
Visualization Innovation
Conventional architectural renderings typically focus on depicting spaces in their truest forms. But as we delved deeper into our theme, we realized we wanted to challenge that idea. Spaces can be abstract too. So, we opted for transparent renderings, layering and superimposing them to capture the complexity and depth of various spaces. Instead of building from the outside in, we decided to create spaces from the inside out, adding elements and layers to inject dynamism into the otherwise static forms. A lot of trial and error went into finding the right angles, spatial arrangements, and processes to truly bring our vision to life.
Storytelling Impact
Our goal was to explore a journey of emotion in an imaginary space, rather than the 3D world we encounter daily. We sketched out what this imaginary space might look like, resulting in the tower of memory blocks stacking on one another. Each block holds a memory, and as the main character recalls something significant, the memory is drawn and filled with an emotion—whether happy, sad, angry, enthusiastic, or romantic. Each emotion is represented by a color, which fills the transparent memory block and forms the backdrop for the incident. In this way, emotions move from intangible to tangible.
Storytelling Impact
We kicked things off with a brainstorming session, throwing out every idea we could think of and intertwining them all. The cool part? We're all visual geeks, so the ideation phase was seriously engaging. Each of us picked up references from movies, books, and series. We wrote everything down, then sketched and overlapped the ideas to see what worked best. For the rendering session, we set up the basic scene, blocking out the composition, and assigning color codes. A lot of trial and error went into this, but eventually, we landed on an angle and lighting that worked for all of us. After that, we focused on layering and adding elements to complete the scene. We worked back and forth until we finally got it right, just like we’d envisioned.
Technical Excellence
We used a variety of software to pull it all together. The base render, including all modeling, lighting, and material setup, was done in Blender, using the Cycles render engine. From there, we took it into Photoshop to go wild with layering and compilation. To speed up the process and maintain consistency, we created multiple base renders in Blender with different material properties. The character-based illustration was key to telling the story, but since the theme was abstract, we wanted the character to have a personal touch. This is where the artistic style came into play, tying everything together. The illustrations were drawn in Photoshop, with careful layering and rendering effects to complete the vision.
Inspirations and Challenges
To be honest, the inspiration came from a mix of fascinating ideas and themes we’ve all studied. The initial spark came from a conversation about the abstraction of emotion, which led us to explore both familiar and fresh concepts. From fangirling over M.C. Escher’s work to geeking out over the Droste effect, Chinese Box effect, memory looping, and time looping (shoutout to Nolan’s movies!), we bounced around with ideas and connected them all while staying true to the core concept: memories reshape and melt into one another, creating a unique experience each time we remember them. It’s a deeply personal point of view we all agreed on, reflecting our individuality.
The real challenge, though, was managing time. With the competition running alongside a heavy academic semester and multiple projects, things were hectic. On top of that, we’re from different semesters, making it even trickier with our varying routines and schedules. To manage this, we broke the work into chunks, dividing tasks based on our skillsets. Of course, we couldn’t pull it off perfectly (because, well, architecture is all about juggling and re-juggling plans!), but this approach worked wonders. We trusted each other completely, knowing we could count on every teammate to handle their part. Solid teamwork and continuous engagement made all the difference!
Reflections on Winning
Winning this competition is honestly so inspiring and a sweet addition to our own Citadels of Memorabilia! We were completely caught off guard and so happy about the recognition. This achievement means a lot to us, and we really appreciate the jury's comments on our work—it’s definitely fueling our drive to do even more in the future. As fellow architectural visualizers and architecture aspirants, this win gives a solid boost to our rendering skills, and we’re all about pushing ourselves to be better. Here’s to hoping for even bigger and better things ahead!
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