New Rendering Brings Horror Movie Atmosphere to East Flatbush

Most architectural renderings aim to present their subject in the best light, both figuratively and literally. They are meant to show you the ideal version of a project: beautifully illuminated by the sun, clear blue skies, smiling people on the street, occasionally a flock of feathered friends in flight.

Which is why the rendering for 679 Lefferts Avenue caught our eye. The proposal for a six-story residential building in East Flatbush — a cubist spike looming over the single-family homes that surround it — is presented in the rendering amid a torrential downpour. It makes the building look like the ominous lair of a horror-movie villain.

We decided to call IMC Architecture, the firm behind the design and the architect of record, to see what they were thinking.

“New York City isn’t always a sunny place,” said Eugene Mekhtiyev, one of the principals at the firm. They at first tried a sunnier rendering, he added, but decided it needed “some more flair.”

As you can see above, flair is certainly not something the rendering is lacking: Lightning strikes in the distance; trees blow violently in the wind; at the base of the building, people rush around with umbrellas (curiously, a suspicious man wearing sunglasses lurks in the background); an oil spill seems to have occurred in the street.

The firm has been receiving a lot of calls about the rendering, said Mekhtiyev, which may mean it has achieved at least one apparent goal: attention.

This isn’t the first unusual rendering, of course. Who can forget the “Bulgarian Neo-Goth Super-Villain Crack Lair” at 410 Tompkins Avenue, or Drake’s appearance on the proposed Fort Greene Park entrance ramp?

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