Matt Hodel
Designer / Owner
Key Illustration, llc + Key Home Design
Denver, CO
About Matt
I grew up around residential construction. My dad was a custom home builder in Peoria, Illinois, and I started working with him when I was eight years old.
I stayed involved in the family business through my twenties, so I learned pretty early how buildings actually go together, not just how they look on paper.
I later earned my professional degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago and went on to work with large architecture firms, smaller firms, and design-build companies. My experience has included residential work as well as healthcare, commercial buildings, data centers and other complicated building types.
For the past 16 years I've operated Key Illustration, helping architects, builders, developers and homeowners communicate ideas through 3D modeling, architectural illustration, and presentation work.
I've always been a doer.
I've spent a lot of my career doing the work myself. Drawing, modeling, researching codes, studying sites, solving construction problems, developing presentations, and figuring out how to communicate difficult ideas.
That hands-on approach is still how I work today. I don't believe good design happens by sitting back and telling other people what to do. I like getting into the problem and working through it.
Can I add an ADU?
Can this addition work within the zoning?
How does WUI affect this mountain property?
What does the new energy code mean for my project?
Is this development idea practical?
How do I explain this design to a client or investor?
Can we turn these drawings into something people can actually experience?
Today, Key Home Design brings all of that experience together. Architecture, construction, code research, feasibility, Ai, technology, and visualization.
I like complicated projects. I like figuring things out. And I especially like finding possibilities that weren't obvious when we started. Every home has a story, and every successful project begins with a vision, a challenge, or an opportunity waiting to be explored.
Make the idea clear. Make it believable. Make people want to see what happens next.
Thank you for visiting Key Home Design.
Sincerely, Matt Hodel
Key Illustration is becoming Key Home Design.
After 16 years of architectural visualization work, the new name better reflects the broader residential design, planning, and consulting work I provide today. Key Illustration isn't disappearing. Visualization remains an important part of what I do.
Have a project you're trying to figure out?
Give me a call.
You don't need to have all the answers. That's part of what I'm here for.
I like cutting my own trails.
That's probably true of both my life and my work. I'm curious about new technology, new ways of designing and new ways of solving old problems. I don't have much interest in doing something a certain way just because that's how it's always been done.