Architectural visualiser Alex Hogrefe has imagined a precarious concrete retreat cut into the edge of a remote clifftop in Iceland, as part of a series of tutorials in creating renderings (+ slideshow).
Hogrefe designed the building to allow him to demonstrate some of the visualisation techniques he uses in his work, focusing on lighting, texture and "atmosphere". He presents the images on his website Visualizing Architecture.

"My site is very much about going beyond the conventional techniques of illustrating the built form," Hogrefe told Dezeen.
"Because of this, the designs often have to hold up by themselves, before I illustrate them," he added. "I don't want my visitors focusing on a weak design instead of graphics that I am trying to explain."
The retreat is conceived as a place of escape, with private overnight rooms for visitors, meditation spaces and access to the surrounding natural landscape.

Related story: Fantasy house by Benoit Challand perched on stilts in the Scottish highlands

It is proposed to sit within a furrow that has been gouged into the cliff face, referencing the jagged form of the many bays and inlets that make up the west coast of Iceland.

"The major question behind the design is how to have a dialect with the landscape in such a way as to not simply plop a structure onto the cliff, but instead engage the landscape by calling on inspiration of the surrounding landforms," ...