Victor Sardenberg

This seminar was taught at the undergraduate program at Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo Mackenzie with Prof. Nieri Soares de Araújo. Architecture is a cultural practice of imagining how the world is, could be, and should be. Throughout history, architects have explored new aesthetic sensibilities, from Piranesi’s visions of Rome (1762) to Superstudio’s Continuous Monument (1969) and Archigram’s Walking City (1964). Each project’s aesthetics were deeply tied to its content, utilizing diverse representation techniques such as engravings, collages, sketches, and videos. However, the dominance of rendering software like Enscape and Twinmotion has led to a homogenized, photorealistic architectural visualization style. Unlike cinema, which embraces diverse genres, architectural renderings often default to idyllic, polished imagery. This seminar explored how generative AI can expand architectural representation beyond conventional aesthetics, embracing counterintuitive, surreal, grunge, kawaii, pop-baroque, and other hybrid styles. Canonical projects were re-imagined according to the aesthetics of popular films and TV series.