Category: ARCHITECTURAL MODEL BUILDING

This is a ‘finished’ presentation model in styrene plastic.  It was part of my masters thesis project (R&D FACILITY FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE ENGINEERING CO.)  The reflective water is ‘wet-look’ bathroom tile. I built it in 3 weeks – very different time scale from a sketch model in foamcore and glue gun. I actually built it in foamcore originally (:-) and then got talked into doing a styrene model (:-(  One important difference between finished and sketch models is that you need well developed design drawings for the finished presentation model.  In contrast the plans are developed simultaneously with the sketch model, so the model and plan affect each other. Also, the styrene model is not ‘fun’ after the first one. The fun is in the exploratory and developmental aspects of the foamcore sketch model.

 

 

 

Even though we use drawings, computer models, etc to design and visualize projects, there is nothing quite like a physical  3d model to turn design into a sculptural process. The trick is to keep it fast and simple. There are many types of card stock and glues, but the fastest and most versatile is still foamcore and hot gluegun (with bristol board for curvy stuff and  blue or green plastic report covers from Staples for  the window material . It is surprising how much you can do with simple materials.  I teach an 8 session course in this at Emily Carr. It’s worth it to gain the methods and some good 3D samples for the portfolio. They don’t teach you how to do this in Arch school. They just expect you to figure it out by watching others. But if you have some know-how before you go, you get to sleep at night while your colleagues pull the all-nighters (:-)   It is also very useful to many designers later in their career. You design things differently using a physical 3d model than you do by using any other medium. Many designs could not be conceived any other way.