Models on models on models on models

The making of analog expressions

We’ve been making a lot more physical models of our projects lately.  It’s been something in the works for years now, but it’s just now coming to fruition.  Our studio shop is in full motion with a modest 3d printer and a diode laser cutter.

While we press into the digital, we are bringing back the analog roots of design.  While 50 years ago architects didn’t have the digital tools to design that we have at our disposal, models were a typical tool of design.  I am careful to acknowledge that I do not believe physical models were solely made because the digital model had not yet arrived.  There’s a sensory connection that our brains have with something we can physically touch and see, simultaneously.

While we spent hours, nights and weekends making models in the 90s, after a few decades we’re back at it.  Although we’ve got a new set of tools to work with this time around. And while it can be noted that we can make more in the same amount time constraints, the reality is that present day project schedules have shortened since those earlier decades.  While we still strive for quick and multiple design iterations to design better, the tools to be honest are probably just keeping pace with 2026 expectations.

And while our current tools allow for precision and automation, I am proud to say that if you look closely there is still an inherent craft to using these tools.  Each model requires fine tuning the settings used on the laser cutter so it does not ridiculously burn the material.  The 3d printer might botch the support structure causing rework of a model.

And in the end we are better for it. Our perspective changes in how we view a design versus seeing it digitally on a screen.  We can go back and forth.  Set the analog right next to the digital so we have “something human to hold onto.”

CURRENT TOOLS:
3d printer: Bambu Lab P1S
Laser Cutter: XTool S1 w/ 20W diode laser

Quote from Bobby Kim’s essay So, why Disney and F1?