Many firms outsource their presentation models to commercialmodelmaking firms, where versatility, experience and, inrecent times, modelmakers’ interpretation come to bear.Modelmaking for architects and designers has become anindustry in its own right, with the best firms offering high levelsof precision, craftsmanship and, especially, speed in order tomeet international deadlines. Modelmaker Richard Armigerobserves that ambitious presentation models are rarely madein an ad hoc manner, and typically require a great deal of ‘strategic planning in order to meet eye-watering deadlines’.On some occasions an awkward building detail is resolved bythe modelmaker ‘in one of his “interpretive moments’’… The modelmaker is indeed part of the design process.’(Interview with Richard Armiger, 11 September, 2008). Thesequence shown here illustrates the construction process ofthe model for Coexistence Tower by Future Systems, built byRichard Armiger: Network Modelmakers.
Case study Models for an exhibition
The complete installation, featuring modelsof the scheme by Hawkins Brown, for theredevelopment of Park Hill, Sheffield, exhibited atthe Venice Biennale in 2006.Exhibitions often require architecturaldesigns to be displayed in interesting ways inorder to capture the public’s imagination, andthis can lead to the development of installationswithin gallery spaces to provide optimumenvironments for viewing models.For their proposal for the regenerationof the Park Hill housing development, HawkinsBrown commissioned a series of coloured acrylicmodels to illustrate the various community-inspired elements within their proposal. These were then suspended on metal rods, with imageshung and projected around them. Combinedwith atmospheric lighting, as seen opposite, theoverall effect of the installation was both dynamicand dramatic.
