Architectural Models - How they help us to understand new projects

 by Simon Thompson

A model provides a centrepiece that will attract a crowd at events and presentations. The intricate detail draws viewers in for a closer look inspiring awe when interior features such as reception areas are visible through windows or large cut out panels in the roof. Replicating the splendours of eastern architecture in some of the recent mosques that we have completed,  domes, minarets and illuminated interiors hold viewers spellbound by their majesty.

Campus 2000 Hemel Hempstead

Oldham Central Masjid

Churches provide stained glass through which colours are projected into mahogany finished interiors and one can almost smell the incense burning on the altar. In each row of neatly crafted pews there is a sense of how spaces will be filled.

Boarbank Convent Chapel, Grange over Sands

 

Landscaping, paths, street furniture and even rose bushes have to be made to suit exact requirements which can be fiddly but immensely rewarding when one stands back and admires the details of an ornamental garden such as the one below. 

None of the aesthetics or artistry of the architect's painstaking work are lost in a conventional model or obscured  as can be the case in digital representation.

The Ibstock Garden

Community projects such as churches, mosques and synagogues have amongst their leading lights few members who can relate to drawings. Long term benefits can be derived from having a model built as it so often aids fund raising and makes projects accessible to all members. Restoration can be helped along by an eye catching model stratigecally placed in the foyer. When we deliver a model of a mosque for example it has become customary to be greeted on arrival at the proposed site by an eager welcoming committee.

 

Islamic cupolas for a Mosque

Treasured relics as they may become we are frequently asked to update models as plans are revised or when subsequent development takes place. It is strange how sentimental one becomes as over the years many memories take shape and new friendships are formed on the foundations of building a model.