It wouldn't be fair for 2019 to arrive without us looking back at the best architectural renders in 2018. Since there are many 3D rendering artists, we'll cover some of the best, who will stay in the public’s eyes for a while.

Some of the essential criteria for this selection will be the level of materialization and texture processing, the lighting as the principal part of each architectural visualization, uniqueness, and creativity, as well as the level of achieved hyper-realism. Moreover, we'll try to tell you what 3D modeling and rendering software these talented 3D artists have used to create the following renders!

The number of great architectural renders is continuously increasing, as there are many talented architects, 3D visualizers, and artists. You’ve surely seen some of the following renders before, but we also tried to include some of the less famous projects and renders done by skilled visualizers.

We hope you'll enjoy the following exterior and interior designs as well as urban planning visualizations.

1. Sculptural House of Horns by WOJR

Studio WOJR has produced amazing renders and an even better design of House of Horns. Other projects done by this team of architects also include hyper-realistic renders. Besides the exterior design and the entire environment, Studio WOJR created a series of renders for House of Horns' interior design. The excellent visualization skills and carefully picked materials make these renders even better!

2. Australia's tallest skyscraper by UN Studio and COX architecture

This list would be literally empty without the favorite type of building among architecture lovers: skyscrapers. The renders of Australia's highest skyscraper left us awe-struck. Plenty of details and advanced materialization made this building appear incredibly lifelike.

3. X House, Cabrils, Barcelona by CADAVAL & SOLÀ-MORALES

We have to notice that each architect lover is amazed by CADAVAL & SOLÀ-MORALES works! Project by project, they are continually surprising us with hyper-realistic renders and incredibly awesome designs! The isolated location of this cozy house was challenging for 3D modeling, but the entire visualization wouldn't be as awesome without the beautiful hills of Barcelona.

4. Micro-home by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

This tiny, customizable house that can be built anywhere became viral during 2018 for more than one reason. Besides the advanced design, Bjarke Ingels Group provided us with amazing renders too. This micro home is one of the favorite projects from 2018 among architects and architecture enthusiasts.

5. Design for social impacts by Solidsprout

With this project, Solidsprout visualized how Bangkok would look if shopping centers were replaced with lots of greenery. Apart from the amazing conceptual idea, they created some awesome renders!

6. Two Towers by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

These beautiful skyscrapers will adorn Shenzhen, China. The sophisticated design and visualization of the entire environment around these stunning buildings are taking us towards the future.

7. Akasaka Hotel in Tokyo, Japan by Akihisa Hirata

The idea of a luxury hotel in Japan with sleeping capsules instead of rooms is a great accomplishment in itself, but Akihisa Hirata has also represented this project incredibly well through his visualizations. The amazingly high level of hyper-realism will surely surprise you.

8. Minimal Interior by Andrea Calzavacca

Interior design enthusiasts were amazed when Andrea Calzavacca published the renders of his minimal interior design. The level of detail will make you ask yourself if it's an actual photo of the existing space.

9. Azure Window by Svetozar Andreev

Among many unique projects done by Svetozar Andreev, Azure Window represents one of the most futuristic projects from 2018. We hope that this mirrored steel form will find its place on Malta's coast.

10. Planar House by Studio MK27

Well, if you enjoy great architecture, there is no chance that you won't like Planer House (Plana Casa). In addition to the stunning and modern design, Studio MK27 amazed us all with the level of precision of these excellent renders of the interior and exterior.

11. Tree-ness House, Toshima, Japan by Akihisa Hirata

Well, you already noticed that the entire world is amazed by Akihisa Hirata studio! Their work is amazing, unique, complex, and advanced at the same time, but their renders are even better!

12. Gridded University Center by Studio Velocity

The multipurpose facility in Okazaki city includes a lot of greenery. These renders of such a complex project are amazing, and they represent all the crucial segments of this awesome work!

13. Villa Sunnano by Amin Paseban

Making a sizeable and sophisticated 3D model takes time, and Amin Paseban worked almost a year to finish this hyper-realistic, full CG animation with lots of lighting and textures included.

14. The Shelter by Tamas Medve

These renders of shipping container architecture in the rural environment are so awesome. With its high-level realism in combination with all the imperfections that make this render even more faithful, it had to find a significant place on our list.

15. 3VO House by Mario Maleš

Using Autodesk's 3ds Max for 3D modeling and Corona for rendering, Maleš created one of the best interior designs of 2018. Lighting, shadows, and lots of bumps gave this visualization an additional note of hyper-realism.

16. Paveletskaya Office by Walk The Room

Using the most advanced 3D modeling and rendering software such as Corona Renderer, AutoCAD, and Autodesk's 3ds Max, they added some flair to this sophisticated and hyper-realistic interior design.

17. Rabbit Snare Gorge by Omar Gandhi Architect + Design Base 8

Using 3DsMax 2018 for modeling and texturing, VRay 3.60.03 for rendering and PS CC for post-production, they created a beautiful image of one of the coziest houses we’ve ever seen.

18. Greeny district by Pavel Lishtvan

Such a complex design of the Greeny district already brought lots of difficulties, but using the best modeling and rendering software, as well as investing a lot of time in post-production, Pavel Lishtvan was able to create such remarkable work!

19. The staircase by Lucas Josefsson, Environment Artist at Starbreeze Studios

Textures, textures and more textures; a simple design of Josefsson's project was reinforced with hyper-realistic visualization. The perfect lighting included in this render additionally highlighted the materials and forms of this interior design.

20. Residential Tower in Lisbon by nu.ma

As a commissioned project for a competition, Residential Tower in Lisbon is one of the best architectural renders from 2018. This render is done using some of the most popular rendering software, including ArchiCAD, Cinema4D, and V-Ray.

21. Bright & unusual interior by Sergey Krasyuk

His work has already attracted architecture lovers back in 2016 when he published the renders of Swedish apartments in Moscow, but the combination of textures and materials used in this project actually enables you to feel the entire space.

22. EDNC by Sodic Design Team

Using the golden combination of modeling and rendering programs, Autodesk's 3ds Max and Vray, Sodic Design Team created a complex and truly inspiring visualization. While the daylight renders are masterful, they invested even more effort and created nightlight visualizations of this sophisticated design.

23. The Beacon – Hemel Hempstead London by Gautam Dey

The entire project contains interior and exterior design, including lots of details and hyper-realistic material processing. Using Autodesk's 3ds Max and Vray, Gautam Dey proved that this is one of the best software combinations.

24. Design project townhouse in the Moscow region by Igor Malkov

This project includes renders of each room of this apartment. The matching design of each room and the advanced pre and post-production will leave the viewer breathless. Malkov used AutoCAD and Autodesk's 3ds Max for this project.

25. Villa Spee by Adam Zorian Radziszewski

Using Blender for 3D modeling and Corona Standalone 1.6.3 for rendering, Zorian created a hyper-realistic render of the minimalistic house. The advanced post-production process and detailed 3D model are what enabled such a convincing render.

The bottom line

If you aren't only an architecture lover, but an architect, 3D artist or architectural visualizer, we hope that your projects will be included in the list of the best projects from 2019 in a year from now!

As we mentioned above, our list includes renders done by various 3D artists, visualizers, and architects. We hope that you agree with our list of the best architectural renders in 2018. Since we surely have missed some great works, you should remind us and let us know your opinion in the comments!

I've got to see some impressive renders from 2019 now, see you soon!