While many architecture students and young practitioners know models mainly as a challenging and time-consuming task to be fulfilled after the design process has been completed, models are in fact first and foremost a means for investigation, for carrying an idea forward. Embedded in the model is the concept of the design, which the model translates into matter and time. Physical models make the invisible, visible: the rules that apply to matter and time become evident to the model maker and thus become filters for this or her design explorations. Suddenly, the designer is faced with both the limitations of the material and its opportunities in the real world.
- Megan Werner, From “Model Making”
The Canyon House
Similar to the representation series, this project aims to hone our craft in architectural model making and to think and make in three dimensions. The premise behind this project was to select another classmate’s model from the representation series and translate it into a building model. From material choices to construction methods, to how spaces are organized, all design moves connect to the overarching ordering system displayed in the selected model.
Selected Model - Design by Fouchee Moua
Project Criteria
Create a ¼” scale physical model that carries out the logic and legibility of the ordering systems in the selected model. Use no more than two materials in the creation of the model. The model must have a relationship to the land through the inclusion of a base. Additional material may be used for the base of the model.
Selected Model
Fabrication technique used in selected model PUNCTURE with ordering system principle DATUM.
Completed Model
FORM and ORDER were the main focus in the design of The Canyon House. I wanted to lift and suspend the model over the base to carry over the idea from the precedent model of being lifted up off the ground plane as well as create the relationship between the model and the base. By suspending the model over the base I was able to puncture the floor plane and utilize the space above and below therefore creating the datum line.
Model Materials
Vellum for the canopy, basswood for the building structure & floor plane, cork for the base.