Modeling Messages: The Architect And The Model

Modeling Messages: The Architect and the Model is a study of the contemporary model and its myriad uses in architectural practice, focusing on the object itself - its makers, materials, and methods of fabrication - and on its roles within the design profession and for the public. Author Karen Moon identifies two principal types of models: those made for the relatively private functions of design and exchange of ideas and those prepared for the typically more public purposes of communication and presentation. Grounded in a discussion of historic models - Michelangelo's massive wooden models of Renaissance churches, Sir John Soane's beautifully crafted replicas of the Bank of England, Kasimir Malevich's Suprematist Architektons of the early twentieth century - the author's text draws as well on her extensive interviews with architects and modelmakers. Illustrations include rare archival images along with spectacular and creative models from noted international architects.