Cover Page

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Model History

Chapter One: Model Types

Model Types

Chapter Two: Exploration

An Overview of Section Concepts

Scale

Ideas

Alternatives

Site Models

Manipulation

Development

Chapter Three: Project Development

Focusing

College Complex

Courthouse

Chapel Addition

BiblioTierra Library

Observatory

Piranesi’s Labyrinth Museum

Southern Culture Complex

Design/Build Project

Urban Museum/Plaza

Chapter Four: Project Development in Practice

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (Formerly Scogin Elam and Bray)

Callas, Shortridge Associates

Roto Architects Inc.

Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT) Architects

3XN

BIG Bjarke Ingels Group

Henning Larsen Architects

Chapter Five: Rapid Prototyping

Computer Modeling

Digitizing

Rapid Prototyping

3D Printers

3D Printer Examples

Laser Cutting

CNC Milling—Computer Numerically Controlled Cutting

Chapter Six: Digital Practice

Morphosis

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

Eisenman Architects

Gehry Partners, LLP

Garofalo Architects

Antoine Predock

Coop Himmelb(l)au

Chapter Seven: Basic Assemblage

Cutting Materials

Attaching Parts

Fitting Components

Templating

Finishes

Site Work

Chapter Eight: Advanced Assemblage

Found Objects

Planar Forms

Planar Solids

Transparent Forms

Covering Frames

Interior Skeletal Frames

Transparent Plastic

Curvilinear Solids

Cut and Carved Forms

Cutting and Carving Wood

Building with Plaster and Anchoring Cement

Building with Plaster

Covering Styrofoam

Coating Chipboard

Molding with Plaster and Resins

Basic Casting

Casting Molds

Malleable Materials

Chapter Nine: Assemblage Case Studies

Case Study A: Residence

Case Study B: Sculpture Foundry

Case Study C: Office Building

Chapter Ten: Tools

Equipment

Materials

Appendix

Alternative Media

Transferring Model Data

Model Photography

Digital Media

Resources

Credits

Academic Architecture Programs

Design Professionals

Photography Credits

Index

End User License Agreement

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Many of the examples in this book were submitted by students, professors, and architectural offices. Their examples have imparted far greater depth to the text, and I wish to express my full appreciation for their efforts. I would also like to thank Tonya Beach and Sara Baxter for their valuable contributions ith editing, support, and technical advice.

Foreword

This book is about using the architectural model as a tool for discovery. When used as an integral part of the design process, study models are capable of generating information in time comparable to drawing and offer one of the strongest exploration methods available. The strategies and techniques presented here provide a broad range of options. However, because this book is primarily concerned with the design process, elaborate presentation models are not stressed. Instead, work is explored with quick-sketch constructions and simple finish models that can be built with materials suitable for studio or in-house construction. Although most of the projects are approached from an architectural perspective, the techniques apply equally well to three-dimensional artwork and industrial design.

There are several reasons why models should be part of every design process. Perhaps the most important one is the understanding to be gained by seeing form in physical space. This physical presence allows the designer to interact directly with the model and obtain instant feedback. Another benefit inherent to physical models, as opposed to computer drawings, is the relationship they share with buildings by existing in the world of dynamic forces. While the correspondence is not an exact analog, physical models can be used to predict structural behavior. This role is traditional in the case of models made for wind tunnels and ship design. Finally, the communicative power of the physical model overcomes problems inherent in conveying three-dimensional computer drawings to a gathering of clients.

eps

Introduction

In this third edition of the book, a stronger emphasis has been placed on the design process and the study model investigations that contribute to its development. To this end, a number of new examples from design firms and academic programs serve to further this emphasis. In concert with new work, the contents have also been ordered to reinforce the design bias by positioning technical topics as support material.

As many are aware, the use of rapid prototyping model techniques such as laser cutters and powder printers has grown exponentially over the past five years. In recognition of their proliferation, many new examples stemming from this type of production have also been added. However, this is not intended to change the original focus of the book, which takes the position that hand-built analog models still hold a valuable place in the design process.

For an illustration of how both investigative methods, analog and digital models, continue to be utilized in design practices to great advantage, one has only to look to design in Denmark or Spain. In these practices, the advantages of hand-built model production are exploited as always, but every opportunity to employ rapid prototyping is incorporated as well. This represents the best form of practice in which both old and new design methods are used based on how each can best contribute to the design exploration.

Model History

During Egyptian and Greco-Roman times, architectural models were made primarily as symbols. In the Middle Ages, with the advent of the cathedrals, masons would move through the countryside carrying models of their particular expertise such as arch building. During the Renaissance, models were used as a means to attract the support of patrons (as in the case of the Duomo in Florence, Italy). As architectural education became dominated by Beaux-Arts training, models became supplanted almost completely by drawing. Architecture was conceived in large part as elevation and plan studies, with three-dimensional media having little relevance. However, by the late 1800s, architects such as Antonio Gaudi began using models as a means to explore structural ideas and develop an architectural language. By the turn of the century, the seeds of modern architecture had begun to take root. With it came a perspective that looked at architecture as the experience of movement through space. Orthographic and perspective drawing were recognized to be limited exploration methods, giving rise to the model as a design tool. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Bauhaus and architects like Le Corbusier elevated the use of modeling to an integral component of architectural education and practice. During the 1950s, modernism embodied form by translating highly reductive designs into one or two simple platonic solids (cube, cylinder, etc). With this shift, beyond providing a means of apprehending scale and massing, the model’s role began to wane. As the hegemony of corporate modernism was fractured in the late 1970s, spatial exploration followed a number of new branches, and the model regained its position as a powerful tool for exploration. In the early 1990s, the model’s role was challenged by a shift in technology. At this point, it was suggested that computer-assisted design (CAD) and modeling programs could substitute digital simulations for all experiences.

While many of the advantages offered by digital media did prove to offer positive benefits, the condition of removal inherent to the virtual experience could not be easily overcome. In reaction to the problem of removal, Ben Damon, an architect with Morphosis (a pioneering office in rapid prototyping), responds to the idea of a completely digital modeling environment by stating: “… physical models will never go away.” He goes on to add that the immediacy and direct relationship offered by the physical model plays a vital role in design development. Similar sentiments are echoed by James Glymph with Frank Gehry and Partners, LLP. In regards to digital modeling, Mr. Glymph points out that “it would be a serious mistake to think it could replace models and drawing entirely.” With these realizations has come a resurgence of interest in traditional physical models and the introduction of rapid prototype models, aimed at reconnecting digital and physical design methods.