Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao refuses to produce computer visualisations of designs still in progress. She says that making collages helps her to develop more exciting buildings.
Bilbao's work is currently on show at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark. The exhibition doesn't contain any computer renderings; instead designs for projects such as Casa Ajijic and Vivienda Popular are shown through models, sketches and collages.
The architect doesn't like finalised images as they can become obstacles in the creative process. She prefers collage as she believes it fosters a more collaborative approach to design.
Tatiana Bilbao is an architect based in Mexico. Photo is by Ana Hop
"I want my architecture to be a platform for anyone to create their own way of living," she told Dezeen. "I think a collage accepts all of those personalities, diversities and complexities that are not only my ideas." "A collage also accepts processes, it accepts mistakes," she continued. "I like to think that our buildings are the same."
Renders "dangerous and damaging"
Bilbao, 47, vowed to stop producing renderings for clients following her first residential project. Her client had been surprised by the result, because he had a fixed idea in his mind based on an early rendering.
"He stopped following the process because he fixed an image into his mind," she explained. "I thought, this could be very dangerous and damaging to the creative...