



Scale models play an integral role in architectural design; they allow us to better understand things like scale, proportion, and spatial quality.

As a student , I am expected to produce a final model of some sort to conclude a design project. Consequently, throughout the semester, I am frequently generating quick study models to work through ideas.

As an intern , however, I was faced with a much larger task...

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South façade. Full Model

During the Summer of 2013 I built this model with a fellow intern from The University of Texas, Travis Schneider.

Travis and I were working for Michael Malone Architects for a few weeks before Michael came to us with this herculean task:

"Build a 1'=1" scale model" he said. "I've always wanted to build one, and now we have an opportunity to do it!"

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Living room section view

What's so special about a 1'=1" scale model?

Well, this means that for every foot that happens in the building schematic, we build 1 inch in the model (so 30ft = 30in). This becomes challenging when you are asked to model 2 stories of a 28,000+ square foot house.



Setting up the model to be photographed

Obviously, this is a bit overkill for simply understanding space; however, it gave us an interesting opportunity to express a huge amount of detail. Also, it posed perplexing challenges in craft and fabrication.

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Living room section view

﻿﻿The model measures out at roughly 12 ft wide X 3 ft deep X 3 ft high.

Travis and I had a relatively small space to work in, which was a challenge in itself.

How do you make something this huge fit through the door, down an elevator, into the car...

To solve this, we divided it into 12 parts that can be easily pulled apart. Each section overlaps the next so that when it all comes together it becomes very difficult to find the seam.

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Exploded top view

﻿This was a unique project that I was proud to be a part of. I don't believe I will ever have an opportunity to build a model at this scale again, and I am so grateful to Michael and his team for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this project.﻿

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