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A retrospective conversation between Professor Michael J. Oswald and Professor Steffen Lehmann on the relevance of the architectural model in times of digital designiing (conversation held August 2006). It focuses on the digital and physical models, which are used in practice and in the educational context.
MJO: When historians look back at the past and the way in which architects designed and created buildings, the role of the architectural model is frequently forgotten. Much of our historic record is made up of drawings and texts; only a small number of architectural models from the Renaissance survive to the present day and even less from before that time. With the advent of digital technology the conventional architectural miniature is once more in danger of being forgotten as computer renderings and animations become increasingly widespread. Given this situation it is important that we continue to talk about the way in which architectural models are used in contemporary design practice. One of the most important questions to start asking designers is how they have used models in their design practice over the last few decades?
SL: I have always been impressed by the long tradition of the development and visualisation of architectural ideas through models. My practice has intensively used computer renderings from 1993 on. But besides scale drawings and the early invention of perspective, physical models are the oldest of all techniques for envisaging buildings in advance of construction, and have not lost their importance until today, despite all digital innovation. During the fifteenth century Italian Renaissance, architects such as Leon Battista Alberti and Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence used fine timber models to convince their clients, powerful people like Lorenzo de Medici, and the public, about the merits of proportions and arrangements of volumes. In the same way, Michelangelo built large models (some of them large enough to crawl inside) of the dome of St. Peter's in Rome to present his ideas to the Pope. The twentieth century saw a revival of the timber model. Le Corbusier, amongst others, favoured the use of timber models to develop his architectural ideas as they moved beyond the limitations of two-dimensional drawings. These models are artworks in their own right. Over the last fifteen years, our practice has used model-making much within this established tradition, with the aim to facilitate our design inquiry. Timber model scales are mainly 1:500, 1:200 and 1:100. We have even afforded ourselves the luxury of having our own model-making workshop room as part of the practice, and have developed our own model language to achieve a consistent character in the modelling.
MJO: You mention both digital and physical models. Has your use of models altered throughout that time?
SL: No, it has not changed. When working in Tokyo, in Arata Isozaki's studio in 1990, I learned to appreciate the luxury of getting ideas built in-house overnight. Isozaki always valued the resource of an in-house model workshop where exquisite pieces could be made quickly. Before leaving the studio in the evening, I would hand over the latest drawings to the model shop, and when I returned to the office in the morning, there would be an accurate polystyrol model on my desk, built overnight by hard-working, younger Japanese staff. Much effort and accuracy was put into these models, even if we only used them ephemerally, to instantly check a certain idea. Over the last few years, after visiting the studios of Alvaro Siza, Steven Holl or Frank Gehry, where countless models are stacked to the ceiling, it became obvious to me that architects will always work with physical models, despite the digitally-based tools now available.
MJO: In your current practice, either in teaching or in design, what do you use models for?
SL: Their main purpose is still to control the design process and to help develop an idea, rather than to represent and exhibit the idea. 'Modellus' (latin) means small scale, it refers to a miniature world that reminds us of the toys of our childhood and the child's urge to play. I use models in both, practice and teaching, to test composition, complicated geometry and proportions? Before any presentation models are built, there are always a series of quick sketch models in card board or polystyrol completed, to test the overall massing. Differently applied model-making methods have a strong impact on the way the design is carried out. For instance, my cohort of architecture students would always reaffirm that the hands-on experience of building first a larger context model would have changed the course of their design thinking.
MJO: Some theorists and designers believe that there is a fundamental difference between making a model yourself and having someone else make a model for you. Is there a difference in your work?
SL: No, not really. The advantage of being able to do it in-house is that you have more control over the process and have frequent opportunities to more clearly direct the work and for critical reflection. We have found that models need to be built by a dedicated professional rather than having it done by just anybody in the practice.
MJO: Thinking back to some of your earlier answers—is there a difference between the way in which you make or use digital and physical models?
SL: Both physical and digital models are part of an abstraction and dematerialisation process during design, showing an idealised, theoretical reality where material gets replaced by motive. However, the digital print-out is frequently uninspiringly flat. The digital simulation may be technically seductive but it never manages to capture the sensual miniature world of objects the way models do. Architecture is a three-dimensional business and two-dimensional representations of spatial ideas are clearly insufficient. The physical model has a higher degree of authenticity than the digital image. It manages to visualise a particular spatial relationship between the pieces and gives a more realistic experience of space - an 'idea materialis'.
Despite the digital revolution, architecture is still about a slow development process, because you need time to dream. However, the bad thing about computers is that they make everything run very fast. Since the establishment of digital technology, I have found that the combination of a cutting-edge three-dimensional software program with tactile physical models offers greater haptic qualities. The idea is to use the best of both worlds, the digital and the haptical. I agree with Akiko Busch, when she writes that 'physical models provide the most efficient means of translating ideas and articulating precise spatial information about three-dimensional form'. It seems to me, that most Australian architecture practices do not yet make sufficient use of model-making as a means of scrutinising their work. Architects in Berlin build frequently several versions of models for each project: one for the city council and the public, another for the client, and many others for their own design development.
MJO: Thank you for the conversation. The following images of models can be put into two categories: models used in practice and models used in an educational context.
References:
Acknowledgements:
The illustrations show some of the different ways models can be used, exemplified with results from design studios coordinated by Steffen Lehmann over the last years. Thanks to the students for their passionate model making.
Models in Practice
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 around 1495Presentation model. One of the finest timber models of the Renaissance, illustrating the design by Bramante for the Cathedral of Pavia, Italy. This monumental, very detailed model is over 3.5 metres high, and was probably built by Cristoforo Rocchi. (Photo: Musei Civici des Castello Visconteo) |
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1990-1991 Site model. Studio terrace for Richard Serra 'House with no style' in Goyt Valley, UK Size: 200sqm (design research project). The lively topography lends it a dynamic of its own. s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: A. Deffner) |
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1993-1996 Presentation model. Office building and workshop in Hartha, Sachsen. Size: 2,000sqm (built). s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: Andreas Deffner) |
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1994- 2000
City context model. ’Quartier an der Museumsinsel’ in Berlin Mitte. A multifunctional office and shopping complex, with headquarters of the Association of German Banks; 5 buildings. Size: 26,000sqm (built). Such large context models in scale 1:500, made out of a combination of timber veneers and perspex, have become the standard model type of the practice over the last fifteen years. They achieve a homogeneous character for the models and visualise well sharp-edge geometries. s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: F. Bolk) |
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1996-1998 Space model. House ‘Villa T.’ in Frankfurt am Main. 280sqm (built). A large-scale detailed model in scale 1:100, where the roof can be taken off to check the interior spaces. s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: F. Bolk) |
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1998 - 1999 Differentiating new and old. Torstrasse Lofts in Berlin Mitte. Conversion and extension of two historically preserved buildings, with 30 lofts. Size: 7,000sqm (commissioned study). The light timber represents the new roof extension on top of the heritage listed building. Even in scale 1:200 a high density of information can be communicated, eg. windows and chimneys. s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: F. Bolk) |
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2000 - 2002 Competition model: New railway station and shopping complex in Hamburg Altona. Size: 120,000sqm (commissioned study). The model uses fine metal mesh and coloured perspex to visualise the sculptural articulation of the main facade. s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten (Photo: F. Bolk) |
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2004 - 2005 Design development model: Beach house ‘Floating box above a bamboo garden’ at the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Size: 250sqm (design research project, with J. Adsett). s_Lab Steffen Lehmann Architekten, Berlin (Photo: J. Adsett) |
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Model exhibition 'move on', July 2003 in Brisbane, featured 15 models by s_Lab Steffen Lehmann. The display system itself was part of the design. (Photo: R. Stringer) |
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 Berlin city model. More and more cities recognise the advantage of having large scale models of the entire city centre to display future developments to the public. Visiting the Berlin city model with students of the ‘Global Studio’ 2005. (Photo: S. Lehmann) |
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LA city model. Already in the 1940s, the city of Los Angeles used a large city model to test the development and rapid growth of its centre. (Photo: Der Architekt, 09/2000) |
| Models in Teaching | |
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Conceptual models. Besides using the newest computer software, students are asked to build traditional working models and variations of volume studies, as seen here: examples from one of Steffen’s design studios. All different massing studies are placed on the same inlet base for ease of comparison and testing in a larger context model. (Photo: R. Stringer) |
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Design development model. Study of the curved roof for a visitor centre at Stockton Beach, student: Scott Christie, 2006. (Photo: R. Hanley) |
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Design development model. Working model to study the shading devices for a west-facing façade. Steffen Lehmann’s 3rd Year design studio (students: C. Smith and A. Murphy, 2004). (Photo: R. Stringer) |
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| Structural model. The design studio ’Foot Bridges’ explored opportunities for new foot and bicycle bridges across the Brisbane River, exploring new structural concepts (student: C. Conwell, 2005). Despite changes in design education and the introduction of digitally-based tools, handcrafted modelling will not disappeared from the curriculum. (Photo: C. Conwell) |
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Large block model. Advanced urban design studio, Mexico City 2005. The combination of digital design and classical model making techniques help the students develop their design ideas in an analytical way. (Photo: S. Lehmann) |
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Teaching model making. The experiences gained in model making workshops through manual model making, quick testing of ideas and individual experimentation play an integral role in design training. The student’s ability to visualise directly in three dimensions and to construct models, together with abilities in drawing and literacy in computer graphics, remain among the important graduate capabilities. (Photo: E. Finbow) |
Uni/RAIA Lecture 