Building a 30-Minute Study Model

The digital tools of architecture practice are always changing, but I think most architects will tell you that analog tools - sketching and model making - are an unchanged part of their design process. I find making things by hand - the craft of it - forces me to slow down, to think and to explore. It’s often a failed experiment that pushes the work in a new, unexpected direction.

The design process always begins with a sketch and the idea I’m exploring with this new project is how the home can amplify the specific conditions of the site, from the topography to the weather and the changing seasons. The sketch is purposefully open-ended and left open to multiple readings. It’s not a fully formed idea and so to further explore the concept I construct a study model. I use it to study the building forms and site relationships and it’s essentially a three-dimensional sketch.

In the video watch as I turn the conceptual sketch into a working study model which I'll then use as a presentation and design tool for an upcoming client meeting.

Concept Sketch

Finished Study Model

Material List:

  1. Model base: 1/4” tempered hardboard (Masonite) on 1” thick corrugated cardboard

  2. Building Volumes: 1/16” Basswood Sheets

  3. Barn Doors: Basswood Profile Sheets + Guitar String Detail

  4. Interior Massing Blocks: Jenga + Cast Acrylic Samples

  5. Roof planes: ‘Quartz Zinc’ Sheet

  6. Ground planes: ‘Anthra-Zinc’ Sheet (water), ‘Quartz Zinc’ Sheet (parking surface)

  7. Decks: Skinny Sticks + Match Sticks

  8. Trees: SuperTrees

Tools Used:

  1. Sketchbook: TRACE Sketchbook (for more on my sketching tools, see this page.)

  2. Ruler: Alumicutter - proven to save fingers.

  3. Architect’s Scale

  4. Utility knife: Olfa L2 + blades

  5. Allex Stainless Steel Scissors - quick cuts on a variety of materials: paper, chipboard, wood

  6. Cutting Mats: 18x24 + 12x18

  7. Modeling Tweezers - immensely helpful for all modeling tasks

  8. Hot Glue Gun - for quick + dirty modeling tasks

  9. Elmer’s Glue-All - purchase in bulk, rack over to a small bottle to save time while gluing.

  10. Machinist’s Square

  11. X-Acto Plastic Clamps - an extra set of hands

  12. Gorilla Tape - for mounting metal pieces (like the roof planes)

Model in Process

Model Build: Outpost Project

Although many architects today default to digital renderings and virtual modeling, I still use physical models in my practice. I spend a lot of my professional time in digital space and perhaps that’s why I find making tangible objects so satisfying. Cutting, gluing, revising and thinking with my hands surfaces ideas I’m not able to access any other way. Equally, when you build a scale model you’re forced to confront the physics of reality.

This build is what architects call a study model. It’s essentially a three-dimensional sketch, intentionally imperfect and slightly messy. It’s an iterative design tool rather than made specifically as a presentation tool. This one was approximately a 2-hour build from start to finish, of course, that doesn’t include any of the setup or filming time necessary to make the video!

Check out the video for a behind the scenes look at my process.

I use basswood for many of my models because it’s dimensionally stable, easy to cut, takes paint without warping and has a thickness that’s appropriate for the scale I’m working with (3/32” = 1’-0”). To fasten the pieces I use a combination of hot glue and white glue. The hot glue is used more for connections which are concealed and don’t require a high degree of precision. I use white glue for components that may need to be repositioned after they’re set in place, ones that are tiny or fragile, and for parts of the model that are subject to scrutiny by clients. White glue takes longer to set but it has a nicer finished appearance.

Materials + Tools list:

  1. Basswood sheets (1/16” thick) 2” x 24”, Skinny Sticks 1/4” x 6”x 1/16”, 1/16” square sticking (see my Amazon page for more)

  2. Self-healing cutting mats (12” x 18” + 18” x 24”)

  3. White PVA Glue

  4. Fine-toothed saw (cutting dowels + square sticking)

  5. Olfa L2 + utility blades

  6. X-acto + #11 blades

  7. Wire cutters (metal details) + nippers (for flush cuts of wood sticking)

  8. Pushpin, hat pins, + T-pins (for inserting metal details in wood + making holes in cork)

  9. Forceps/tweezers

  10. Guitar string (details)…piano wire works too

  11. Kuru toga mechanical pencil

  12. Scissors (bonsai scissors are great for tight areas), I also like these Allex ones.

  13. 1/4” + 1/8” wood dowel (chimney)

  14. Hot glue gun (not pictured)

  15. Coir mat (not pictured) for landscape elements, shrubbery, green roofscapes

  16. Cork backed metal rule (6” + 24”) + Squares

  17. Cork underlayment (more info. on the site model here)

If you enjoy these videos, you can support 30X40’s work on YouTube by investing in a course, a toolkit or a digital tool. Many thanks!

Architectural Model Making Tips

Architects build two fundamentally different types of models: presentation models and study models. Presentation models are often used in client meetings to convey a finished design in miniature while study models are used by architects as part of the design process. Study models are the equivalent of a three-dimensional sketch and allow us to explore and iterate design ideas quickly. We often begin these by collaging ideas using planes of cardboard and wood.

In this video, I share my best tips for building architectural models something I’ve done professionally for close to 30 years.

Building models remains an important tool and part of my personal process for making architecture. And while many have moved to completely digital forms of modeling, I’ve maintained the habit of building models. Here’s why: there’s a sensory feedback loop between the hands and the brain known as embodied cognition. It’s been shown that our motor system influences our understanding and cognition in much the same way the mind can influence our physical actions. I build models to unlock creative inspiration I can’t otherwise access (they’re also pretty fun to build).

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Making Architecture Models (a tutorial)

I've always found satisfaction in turning scraps of wood and cardboard into a tiny model, but I haven't always loved the finished product. If you've struggled with this too (or if you’re just curious about model making) you'll appreciate this week's video where I share my model making techniques.

I'll show you the materials I chose, why I chose them and a few - less expensive - alternatives. I discuss why you would choose one modeling style over another, how to conceptualize what to model and how a few simple tweaks can make a big difference in the esthetics of your architectural models.

If you enjoy these videos, you can support 30X40’s work on YouTube by investing in a course, a toolkit or a digital tool. Many thanks!

Why Do Architects Make Models?

Architects build scale models for many reasons: they're a form of three-dimensional sketching, they help us visualize how light will illuminate spaces, they help us analyze the best forms, spatial and material relationships. Even with so many digital tools that are faster, more accurate and easier to change architects still build physical models, why?  In part, because the act of making and manipulating things with your hands has been shown to produce more efficient, more creative, and insightful solutions to problems.

Learn more and watch as I build this tiny model in the video.