Design Direction
Sofia Verticale
Still renders and a film storyboard for a residential tower in Sofia, made freelance for Unique Estates. The 28 renders are delivered. The film is in production, so this page shows its storyboard frames until the cut is finished.
The brief
Why it exists.
A residential tower in Sofia had to be sold before it was finished. The developer had architectural renders of the building and drone footage of the site. None of it showed anyone living there.
The job came through Unique Estates: a set of stills first, then a short film. Twenty-eight renders went to the client in October 2026, after several rounds of the developer's notes. The film is a 28-beat storyboard, 1:41 long, and it is being animated now.
The principle
The argument.
The building is the one thing in the picture a buyer can check against the real one. So the tower comes from the developer's own renders and is never redrawn. The direction goes into what surrounds it, the hour of day and who is in the room.
The calls
What the direction refuses to do.
01
One facade, several hours
The front elevation is the same in every exterior frame. What changes is the light, from flat daylight to dusk to lit windows, and the street in front of it. Holding the building still makes the hour the variable, so a reader compares times of day rather than slightly different towers.
02
Most rooms have someone in them
An empty render shows the finish. A render with a person in it shows the size of the room, because the eye measures the space against the body. The terrace and the living room are lived in for that reason.
03
The film starts as a pencil line
The storyboard opens on a hand drawing the tower on paper, and the lines then turn into the render. The architect's drawing comes on screen before the finished building, so the film starts where the project did.
The stills
Delivered renders, then frames from the film.
12 frames
01Front elevation, daylight 02The same elevation, evening, lived in 03The entrance at night 04Terrace at dusk, over the city towards Vitosha 05Apartment living room 06Apartment bedroom 07Film, beat 3: the tower drawn by hand 08Beat 4: the lines become the render 09Beat 7: arriving over the city 10Beat 13: the lobby, in the oak and limewash the developer chose 11Beat 24: the terrace at night 12Beat 27: every home lit
Outcome
Where it landed.
The 28 renders are delivered. The film is being animated from this storyboard, and when it is finished the cut goes here in place of the frames.
I'm Pavlo Puzikov, a marketer working in immersive 3D, applied AI, and generative content.