We aim to produce images that are outside the “3d architectural visualization” category.

Our focus is on creating a unique overall feeling in the image, instead of forcefully instructing the viewer in what to think and feel about the project.

A Mir image gives space for an individual experience.

1.Natural light
We want to create images that humans instinctively relate to and connect with. Manipulating away shadows or faking light can backfire and result in images that feel “disguisive” and unnatural.

2.Unforced process
Strawberry cake and T-bone steak are both good things, but it is not a given that they work together in a dish. Camera angle, lighting, colour, and composition are the key ingredients that together make up the foundation of an image. A poor foundation cannot be saved with flares, fog and effects.

3. Thoughtful use of markers
Images that over instruct the viewer what to think and feel about the project can be unappetizing. We keep things natural and palatable by questioning the use of any symbolic markers such as “Kids with Balloons” or “Trendy Shopping Girls”.

A couple of years ago, I was with my friend Adam Cohn when he made this simple yet important declaration — “San Francisco should always have a subway under construction.” My first reaction was to think of every possible objection to the concept — too expensive, too disruptive, too controversial, too many difficulties siting subway stations and determining alignments. But, I quickly realized that the statement was both insightful and correct.
San Francisco is experiencing unprecedented growth. The city has 200,000 more people than in the early 1980s and 100,000 more than in the early 2000s. We are growing by about 10,000 people a year and are projected to add another 150,000 residents by 2040. We see the results of this growth on our streets every day, with more and more auto congestion and a harder time for our extensive bus network navigating the streets and meeting schedules. Indeed, Muni buses travel at the slowest average speed of any urban bus system in the country, at just over eight miles per hour on average.

Melbourne, Australia–Last year, Rio Tinto made an astounding discovery at its Argyle mine in Western Australia and never said a word about it.

The diamond mining company unearthed a 9.17-carat piece of rough that yielded a stone Rio Tinto Diamonds’ Patrick Coppens describes as “impossibly rare”–a 2.83-carat fancy deep grayish blue violet diamond that it dubbed the “Argyle Violet.”

It is the largest violet diamond ever recovered from the mine. And now it will embark on a world tour, of sorts, as part of the 2016 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender.

The Gemological Institute of America assigned the oval-shaped stone a color grade of fancy deep grayish blue violet. In a peer-reviewed article in the spring 2009 edition of Gems & Gemology, the GIA noted that the Argyle mine is the world’s only known source of type IaB hydrogen- and nitrogen-rich diamonds colored gray to blue to violet. The article also noted that the more violet-hued stones in this range are colored by nickel defects.

Rio Tinto said the Argyle Violet has a clarity of SI1.