Cutting Interior Render Time by Two-Thirds: How Top Maison Transformed Their Proposals
In this series, we speak with ArchiX users about how AI is changing the way they work. This time, we sat down with Yu Nakazawa, Chief Planner at the Osaka branch of Top Maison Co., Ltd., a firm specializing in luxury custom homes and renovations inspired by European architecture. He shared how ArchiX changed the pace of their client proposals.
| Company | Top Maison Co., Ltd. |
| Website | https://www.topmaison.com/ |
| Interviewee | Yu Nakazawa, Chief Planner, Osaka Branch |
Before and After ArchiX
Challenges before adoption
- Gap in spatial understanding: Floor plans alone made it difficult for clients to visualize the finished space, leading to misaligned expectations.
- Time-consuming render creation: Interior renders with detailed decorative elements required significant CAD work, and finding reference images added even more time to the process.
Results after adoption
- Proposal speed tripled: Initial proposal preparation time dropped to roughly one-third of what it used to be. High-quality renders can now be generated directly from hand-drawn sketches.
- Clearer communication on-site: Visual references can now be shared with craftspeople and subcontractors, helping maintain and improve construction quality.
Looking for an Outsourcing Partner, Finding an AI Tool Instead
How did you first come across ArchiX, and what led you to adopt it?
Nakazawa: Honestly, I wasn't looking for AI software at the time. I was searching for an external vendor who could produce detailed renders at a reasonable cost. ArchiX came up through a contact in the real estate industry, and at first I thought it was actually a rendering studio (laughs).
During the demo, I uploaded a hand-drawn interior sketch I had made for a renovation project, and the result was far better than I expected. That's when I thought, this could actually work for us. It felt like a product still early in development, but that's exactly what made it interesting. We adopted it because we believed in where it was heading.
CAD Can't Keep Up with Decorative Interiors. ArchiX Does It in Seconds.
What workflow challenges were you dealing with before ArchiX?
Nakazawa: The core issue was the gap between how we see space and how clients see it. We can read a floor plan and mentally construct a room, but clients often cannot. That gap creates friction early in a project.
Our specialty is European-style imported homes, which feature heavy use of decorative elements like moulding - the kind of intricate curved wall detailing you'd see in Rococo architecture. Recreating that in CAD element by element is incredibly time-consuming. Before ArchiX, we would search image libraries for something close to the look we were after and attach those to our proposals. That image hunting alone ate up a lot of time.
Before
After
Proposal Time Cut to One-Third. Full Room Concepts Starting from a Simple Box.
What changed in your day-to-day work after you started using ArchiX?
Nakazawa: The time it takes to put together an initial proposal presentation has dropped to roughly one-third of what it used to be.
We no longer need to build out every detail in CAD. Starting from a simple box-shaped render or a hand-drawn sketch, ArchiX transforms it into something that looks like a professional photograph. There are still cases where it takes a few rounds of prompting and refinement to get the result just right, but even accounting for that, the overall efficiency gain is significant.
From Renovation Proposals to On-Site Coordination - and More to Come
What are you hoping to do with ArchiX going forward?
Nakazawa: Ideally, I'd like to use it as a real-time interactive tool during client meetings - adjusting the design on the spot as the conversation evolves. There's still some inconsistency when it comes to partial edits, so I usually do a few test runs beforehand, but if we can reliably show a client an updated image the moment they say "I'd like to change this," it would take both the speed and depth of those conversations to another level.
That same capability would also be valuable internally, and with our craftspeople. A single image that says "this is what we're building toward" is incredibly powerful for keeping everyone aligned and maintaining construction quality.
About Top Maison Co., Ltd.
Top Maison is an architectural firm focused on luxury custom and imported homes, with a commitment to authentic materials and design. Drawing from traditional European architectural styles - particularly from France and Spain - and importing materials directly from Europe, Top Maison delivers distinctive design without compromising on value. Their work extends beyond new builds to include renovations, land development, and medical and commercial facility construction.
Headquarters: Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture (with offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka)
Founded: 2000
Services: Luxury custom homes (imported homes), renovation, land development, general construction
Website: https://www.topmaison.com/