Santa María del Oro House - Reimagined | 3D Architecture Visualization
This project is a personal architectural visualization study of the Santa María del Oro House, originally designed by Mauricio Ceballos X Architects and documented through photographic references on Arch Daily.
Rather than reconstructing the project through traditional documentation, this visualization embraces a purely observational workflow, relying exclusively on photography to interpret form, proportion, and spatial intent—without the use of 2D CAD drawings or architectural plans. For this reason, there are variances between the original and my version.
Architectural Language
The house is defined by a restrained composition of:
- Horizontal planes anchoring the structure to the land
- Clean orthogonal volumes creating moments of compression and release
- Controlled apertures framing distant views toward the water
In the absence of surrounding forest density, the architecture becomes more introspective and elemental—its relationship shifting from camouflage to presence.
Visualization Approach
This project was developed using:
- Modeling: Rhinoceros 3D
- Rendering & Environment: Twinmotion
The workflow focused on:
- Reconstructing geometry through photographic analysis and spatial inference
- Establishing a new environment that complements—not replicates—the original intent
- Leveraging real-time rendering to iterate rapidly on lighting, mood, and composition
Lighting plays a critical role, with low-angle natural light used to accentuate textures across sand and concrete, creating long shadows that reinforce the architectural rhythm.
