Hand made built-to-scale models are more important than ever.

This was one of the surprises for me during the recent Dulux DIAlogue on Tour Award event in Europe.

We met with some of the leading architects and interior designers in London, Stockholm and Copenhagen. In all these practices we visited, model-making was pivotal.

Model-making is time consuming and it’s seen by many as a bit of a luxury. I know I’ve felt that way in the past. I’ve made models but I stopped building them because of the time and money involved.

On this tour I came to realise that if you don’t do model-making, your first go at the finished result is only ever a prototype because you’re seeing it for the first time.

This is why model-making is really important. You can develop and refine whatever it is you’re designing through physically seeing it, even if it’s at a small scale.

All of the architects we visited had hundreds of models on display. It was fantastic to see the models and the variety of work that each studio had done.

It meant that rather than having to travel around the world trying to track down projects, you could stand in the studios and see all the 3-dimensional models. It was a great way to experience their work.

The models are made out of cardboard, and foam-core board. The 3D printing option hasn’t taken off yet. All the architecture firms we visited still favour the hand made model.

We saw many are even using hand made models for product development. They often need to do four or five prototypes in refining products before it’s mass produced.

One of the big take outs of the trip for my own practice was the importance of model-making. It should be included regardless of the phase of the project or the scale of the project.

I now realise it’s necessary and valuable design step, so it’s what I’ll do in the future.

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