Architectural model

An architectural model is a scale model used to study aspects of a design or to communicate what the design intends. Sketch models made quickly during design help test how volumes meet, how a building looks from different viewpoints, or a concept; presentation models exhibit, explain, or sell the final design. The scale depends on the purpose: 1:1, 1:2, or 1:5 for details, 1:10 or 1:20 for interiors and furniture, 1:100 or 1:200 for building plans, and 1:500 to 1:2,500 for site plans. Quick study models are often made of cardboard, wooden blocks, or polystyrene, and the figures, vehicles, and trees placed in a model help viewers judge its scale. At JUT Art Museum, the Sou Fujimoto exhibition surveys thirty years of his work through models, design drawings, and hand-drawn notebooks, and in the nearby Jianguo Brewery warehouse it shows a 1:5 model of the Grand Ring roof of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, which visitors can walk into.

Find a figure, a tree, or the scale on the label beside a model and work out how big the real building is; then ask whether it is a rough sketch model or a finished presentation model.

Was this model made for the architect to think with, or to persuade someone else?