Urban Design Visualizations

A Peek Inside My Process

Working with the available resources — Google Earth and Street View, 2D site plans, 3D massing, and photos — I piece together the existing assets to create a desired perspective view. Then, “tracing” over digitally on my iPad, the details fall into place. Finally, working within the chosen color palette, watercolor is digitally painted to bring a place to life visually.

Aerial view of a city with a mix of industrial, commercial, and residential areas, including roads, railway tracks, parking lots, warehouses, and high-rise buildings in the background with hills beyond.

Google Earth

A computer-generated 3D model of a large urban development project with multiple buildings, roads, and open spaces, with some structures highlighted in white and others in red, overlaid on an aerial photograph.

SketchUp 3D Massing

Line drawing of an urban cityscape with buildings, streets, and a distant skyline, including an airplane flying in the sky.

Pencil Line Work

A watercolor-style illustration of an urban development plan with buildings, roads, green spaces, trees, and a distant city skyline with mountains in the background.

Watercolor Painting

Types of Renders

  • A detailed color-coded map of a residential neighborhood with parks, schools, and streets, including Schafer Park and Russell Square Park, along with a school labeled Bruce Randolph School.

    2D (Site Plan)

    Helpful for placing the site in context and categorizing land uses, explaining streets and blocks, and the arrangement of parts

  • A colorful illustrated map of Marietta, Georgia, showing buildings, streets, and parks with lush green trees and neighborhood details.

    Birds-Eye (Aerial)

    Bringing three-dimensional perspective into a larger context

  • Hand-drawn illustration of an urban park with trees, benches, walking paths, and people walking, biking, and relaxing among tall apartment buildings.

    Eye-Level

    Most intuitive view for viewers, best suited for showcasing a human perspective

  • A cross-section and top-down view of a mixed-use development with residential and flexible innovation spaces, featuring trees, seating, pathways, parking, landscaped areas, and string lights.

    Section-Cut

    Get into the details of dimensions and sense of enclosure combined with a small-scale aerial context

An aerial illustration of a city street scene with brick and modern buildings, trees lining the sidewalks, vehicles including cars and a bus, and pedestrians at crosswalks and sidewalks.
A tall yellow construction crane with a long horizontal arm and a hanging hook, isolated on a white background.
A colorful illustration of a city park with trees, a playground, outdoor seating area, and various pathways, surrounded by buildings and roads with vehicles.
Diagram showing a system organized into layers: green space at the top with park and trees, bodies of water below, followed by roads labeled as primary and secondary, and buildings at the bottom indicating phasing phases in different colors.
Map of West Palm Beach area showing neighborhoods, landmarks, and points of interest, including downtown, Palm Beach, cityplace, and nearby lakes, parks, museums, and the airport.
Aerial view of a resort or hotel complex situated near a body of water, featuring two large buildings, a swimming pool, landscaped gardens, and surrounding roads and pathways.
A detailed illustration of a historic clock tower and government building with a crowd of diverse people and children playing in front. There are trees, a bus, bicycles, and bubbles floating in the sky, with modern skyscrapers in the background.
A watercolor illustration of a three-story brick house with a porch, steps, and a yellow front door, surrounded by a green lawn and flowering bushes, labeled 'The Denver Four Square'.
An illustrated aerial view of a cityscape with tall buildings, a historic capitol building in the center, green trees, and streets with cars.
A colorful illustration of a city park during fall, with children and adults engaging in outdoor activities like riding a scooter, walking dogs, playing volleyball, and picnicking on a blanket, surrounded by trees with orange and yellow leaves and ta
A detailed aerial plan of a residential complex featuring multiple buildings with gabled roofs, landscaped green spaces, trees, and pathways. The layout includes parking areas, water features, and roadways surrounding and connecting the complex.
A city planning map showing residential, recreational, and educational areas, including parks, schools, apartments, and streets, with a north arrow and scale.
A digital illustration of an urban development with a mix of commercial and residential buildings, green spaces, a river, and transportation infrastructure, with a city skyline and mountains in the background.
Illustration of a park and outdoor market area with trees, pathways, tents, and a parking lot, viewed from above.
A detailed architectural sketch of an urban neighborhood with buildings, streets, green spaces, sports fields, and a waterway, viewed from above.
A digital illustration of a vibrant community street scene with people engaging in various activities such as gardening, skateboarding, cycling, and socializing. The area features modern white buildings with balconies, lush green trees, outdoor seati
A lively street scene with people walking, cycling, and hanging out under string lights, lined with trees, street lamps, and building storefronts on a partly cloudy day.
A vibrant urban park with trees, benches, and people walking, biking, and relaxing under umbrellas, surrounded by tall apartment buildings under a blue sky.
A hand-drawn architectural plan showing a cross-section and top view of a mixed-use development with residential, commercial, and flexible innovation spaces. The cross-section illustrates a central open space with trees and people, flanked by residen
A hand-drawn map showing a residential street layout with front yards, a driveway, a parking area, trees, and a sidewalk. The map includes a north arrow, scale bars, and labels indicating one-way street and stop signs.
illustration of an urban street design with a cross-section view at the top showing building heights, green spaces, and sidewalks, and a top-down view below depicting trees, street furniture, bike lanes, parking, and pedestrian pathways.
Illustration of a park and urban area with pathways, trees, a river, cars, benches, streetlights, and people walking. Top section shows an elevation view with trees, people, and a small water feature. Bottom section shows a bird's-eye view of the par
A colorful illustration of Marietta, Georgia showing trees, buildings, and streets, including Lemon Street and Rigby Street.
Hand-drawn map of Denver, Colorado's Golden Triangle neighborhood featuring landmarks like Civic Center Park, Denver Health, Sunken Gardens Park, and various buildings, trees, and street illustrations.
Architectural plan on a table with open books, marked-up drawings, markers, a ruler, and printed landscape design diagrams.