The workshop will be closed on Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd January. Normal opening hours will resume on Friday 23rd.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
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‘Modelmaking in the Digital Age’ Symposium, 9th March 2015
B.15:45 Presents….
As part of our continued look at the role of Modelmaking in Architecture we are very pleased to announce our upcoming symposium event: Modelmaking in the Digital Age
The day will comprise of a series of talks and discussions around the subject of modelmaking in architecture, in particular the impact the introduction of digital tools has had on the approach to making and learning with models.
Registration for the symposium has now closed.
Confirmed Speakers for the event are:
Ken Grix, Architect and Modelmaker at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Bath. Since 1999 Ken has been both the inspiration behind and creator of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios’ concept models, design process models and presentation models. He became a Partner of the company in 2012, and the following year he achieved the great honour of winning the Lend Lease/AJ Grand Award for Architecture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2013 for his concrete concept models of the Festival Wing, Southbank.
Dr. Milena Stavric, studied Architecture at the University of Belgrade where she also received her PhD. Since 2004 she has worked at the Graz University of Technology, Austria. Author of Architectural Scale Models in the Digital Age: Design, Representation and Manufacture.
James Smith, Director and Head of Architectural Modelmaking at Amalgam Models, Bristol. James joined Amalgam in 2000 having gathered model making experience across the UK for several years, followed by 3 years based in Barcelona where he managed many high profile architectural projects. James became a Director at Amalgam in 2008.
Professor Nick Dunn, Professor of Urban Design at Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts.Previously studied and taught at the Manchester School of Architecture, Author of the international best selling book, Architectural Modelmaking.
Gregor Anderson, Associate Partner at Foster + Partners and manager of the in-house Rapid Prototyping Facility. Gregor studied at the Royal College Of Art where he focused his research on all forms of digital manufacturing. On graduating, he was a key member in the development of Rapidform, the RCA’s in house additive manufacturing unit. In 2008 he moved to UCL to set up and run The Digital Manufacturing Centre in the Bartlett School of Architecture, before joining Foster + Partners in 2011.
Ed Bartlett, Associate and Modelshop CAD Support Manager at Foster + Partners. Ed joined the practice in 2008 after graduating from the Arts University Bournemouth, where he studied Modelmaking for Design and Media, specialising in computer-aided design. He now heads up a team of CAD specialists within the practice, working on a wide variety of projects around the world.
The event will be chaired by our own Dr Raymond Lucas. Dr Lucas has recently been appointed as Head of Architecture in Humanities at the University of Manchester and as such will have a close relationship with our workshop activities in future. His involvement teaching at MSA and research with the Manchester Architectural Research Centre (MARC) however has been ongoing for the last 4 years so Ray is well versed in the active role our cause plays for our students.
The event will be held on March 9th in the Cordingley Lecture Theatre here at the University of Manchester’s Humanities Bridgeford Street Building. Presentations will begin at 09.30am and will continue throughout the day with Q & A sessions and general discussions around the subject concluding no later than 16.00.
Further updates to the event will be posted here leading up to the event.
Tickets are no longer Available
Registration for the symposium is now closed.
For those who have registered We’ll see you on Monday!
Urban Design: Principles and Practice by Rachel Kerr of MSc Planning
Our first student in this year was an unexpected one. For some time now planning tutors have been encouraging their students to branch out into modelmaking as a tool to explain their proposals. Rachel Kerr decided to jump in and, having prepared her initial drawings for the model over the break, had no problem doing so.
Rachel Described the project for us:
The brief was to identify a disused corner site with a total area of less than 1 hectare for which we had to produce a redevelopment proposal. The site I worked on is to the west of Salford Central Station and is currently used for car parking (although it has been identified within the Salford Central Regeneration Strategy). The assignment requested that we assess the characteristics of the site and the surrounding area and use this analysis to produce a detailed brief for proposed redevelopment. Due consideration was given to urban design principles such as frontage, scale and public space. It was my intention to ensure that the site sits comfortably in within the surrounding area, whilst utilising the corner location to create a landmark for passing traffic.
The project uses simple material differences to divide the elements of the site. Because the model was made from laser cut ply there was the unavoidable scorching of the material edge. Rather that removing this, Rachel decided to capitalise on the burnt colour and stained the top surface of her site context buildings to match given them a dark colour in contrast to the sanded and clean look of her site in question.
Due to the small scale (1:500) of the model the site and road details we represented as engrave lines as any more definition was deemed of little importance to the overall representation required.
Once again the locally harvested ‘trees’ from our own model tree plant, as used on other projects, came in very useful and provided a natural and great finishing scale accompaniment along with a small number of 1:500 cars. Grassed or ‘Green’ areas are represented with a mottled green paper that gives a subtle contrast to the birch ply base.
The model was completed over approximately 3 days and is a good example of how to simply but effectively show the context of a site.
Architectural Review: ‘Architects do it with Models’ Article
Happy New Year and welcome back! Here’s a quick link to get you started before the main announcements for the coming months. Hope you all had a relaxing break and we look forward to seeing you back in the workshop soon!
Architectural Review wrote an article last year looking at the history of architectural models in 16 examples. The article shows the interesting progressive spectrum of materials, methods of construction and varied use from 4600BC to the present day.
Have a look at the article by clicking here.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from B.15
Just a quick message to say we hope you all have a great time over the Christmas break and come back refreshed and ready to go next month. This year has been great for B.15 Â and we hope to continue this next year and beyond.
Cogs are already in motion for a significant and exciting symposium event we are hosting taking place on March 9th 2015, the details of which will be announced next month so keep your eye on our updates.
We will also be asking you to give us feedback on our workshop and any ideas you have for improvement. Again we will be notifying you in due course when the survey is released.
Thank you for all your support over the year and good wishes for the festive period. We look forward to seeing you in January (We will be re-open from the 5th) !
Scott and Jim
Runcorn Reprogrammed Master Plan, Constantinos Papaioannou
Year 6 Re_Map Student Constantinos Papaioannou has just completed this master plan of his study area looking at Runcorn. The model will be used as an overview of the entire site with more specific site study models to follow.
The model used a minimal amount of Laser engraved and cut MDF combined with site focus areas represented with red coloured acrylic and frosted clear acrylic.
Constantinos produced the model in just a day and a half. We look forward to seeing the next stage of the project!
Colwyn Bay Contour Site Model, Ketil Rage & Kristian James
Rather than using heavy and considerably more expensive wood to make their contour model, Continuity in Architecture students Ketil and Kristian opted to use grey board which saved them considerable time in cutting and money on materials.
Rather than simply engraving the outline of the building footprints it was decided to make each a more defined presence by cutting down into the contours and layering in a maroon backing.
Ketil described the project for us:
‘The model is part of our master plan for Colwyn Bay, which is our 5th year project. We decided to focus on the topography of the area as well as viewing the model as a figure ground map (with the buildings sunk into the ground), to aid our initial master plan strategy. The model will be ‘replaced’ by a 1:500 model now for our massing studies, so it was primarily used for our initial strategies for the town.’
New Modelmaking Reference Books in B.15
We have just received some new reference books on Architectural modelmaking for use in the B.15 workshop.
You will find these books a great source of inspiration for your models as well as providing you with theoretical insight into model building.
An Architectural Model, Will Strange, 2013.
This book provides a graphic breakdown of materials, tools and basic theory about the making of an architectural model. A good insight for any student wanting to improve their modelmaking skills or understanding of the subject.
The following books provide a mix of theory and technical advice along with image examples to see.
Modelmaking: Conceive, Create and Convince, Arjan Karssen & Bernard Otte, 2013
Architectural Models: Construction Techniques, Second Edition, Wolfgang Knoll & Martin Hechinger, 2006
Packaged as part of a two book set, these books provide a wide selection of Architectural Model case studies and insights to their use from a range of practices.
Construction and Design Manual, Architectural Models books 1 & 2, Pyo Mi-young, 2010
We encourage you all to come a have a look through these books for some new project ideas!
Scott & Jim
Urban Spatial Experimentation project, 5th Year Project
This 5th Year group have spent the last few days putting together a 1:500 site context model of the area they will be focussing on for their individual projects. The project is called Urban Spatial Experimentation or U.S.E. The site in question is the Albert’s Shed on the River Irwell and the model will allow different proposal models to be placed in context as they are developed. 
The model consists of several mixed media that are used to represent different aspects of the site. It was quickly decided that the offsite context buildings would be represented using jelutong block offcuts to reduce the cost and effectively put the massing of each building together. Building footprints were drawn out and placed on the block pieces which were then cut to height before being shaped and sanded to finish.
The main base of the model is made up using 2mm MDF which was laser cut and engraved to create the minimal contouring on the site and provide the relief from the river section which was added last as a piece of black acrylic.
The group used small seed pods from a tree to represent the trees across site. This technique was used last year by several students and can be seen in this project by Laura Minca.
Here are a few pictures of the finished model below.
Workshop Closed on the Morning of Tuesday 25th
The workshop will be closed between 09.30 and 13.00 on Tuesday 25th for planning inductions. Normal opening hours resume at 14.00.