Architectural Models in context: creativity, skill and spectacle

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The proposed Network's central theme is to examine the role of architectural models within the creative process, consider ways in which architectural models can engage public audiences with key architectural and design issues, and explore how digital technologies for 3D modelling and imaging can be utilised in their display and interpretation. The Network will focus on the western tradition, from the early modern period to the contemporary. It will form the first phase of a major project to design and build a virtual museum of architectural models.In partnership with the Architectural Association (AA), RIBA, and the Sir John Soane's Museum, the Architekturmuseum, Technische Universität Munich, the MAP Laboratory, CNRS and Sorbonne, this network will connect users, ideas and objects in order to promote and support the use of models in academic research and public display. It will bring together experts on architectural models; identify resources on architectural models; and share experience of interpreting architectural models for non-expert audiences. In so doing, it will facilitate knowledge transfer, identify knowledge gaps, and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. The network will increase expert understanding which in turn will generate benefits for the various public audiences with which the professionals interact.Context:Architectural models are used throughout the design process. They include concept models, construction models, 1:1 models and presentation models. Although architectural models have much in common with other 3D representations, the complexity of representing a building, the public impact of permanent construction and specific questions of scale set them apart. Like architectural drawings, their significance is that they are tools for thought and communication; they help to make invisible design processes visible and they document moments of communication that are otherwise ephemeral. Unlike 2D depictions, however, they directly convey the embodied 3D qualities of a building and have, since the Renaissance, been seen as the most comprehensible form of architectural representation. Yet whilst the relevance of architectural models is acknowledged by a number of different research and practice-based constituencies: students, architects and designers who use them; model-makers who construct them; curators who look after, display and interpret them; conservators who maintain them; and academics who research them, to date, no forum for knowledge exchange exists; nor is there a comprehensive, searchable resource that lists or attempts to list the institutions in which such collections are housed.This project is timely for a number of reasons. Museums are showing a renewed interest in their model collections; digital modelling and 3D printing are diversifying the way that models can be generated, increasing their incidence in the creative field; and developments in 3D scanning are offering new modes of access to objects in storage (which models typically are). Finally, in a period of unprecedented urban expansion, many museums are prioritising architecture as a key area for public education and engagement and seeking innovative ways to display architecture within museum walls. Now is the ideal moment to harness this momentum.Three specialist workshops will bring together the different constituencies that use models: academics, architectural students and practitioners, curators and museum educators. The workshops will feature papers focusing on concrete case studies as well as model-making sessions to encourage understanding of embodied knowledge and practical thinking. Content will be disseminated online as well as through a scholarly publication. Each workshop will focus on a specific question:Workshop 1. What is an architectural model?Workshop 2. How do we make and use architectural models?Workshop 3. How do we interpret architectural models?