Adam Scales will speak on how model makers play a pivotal role in the design and construction process by creating detailed physical scale models that bring architectural concepts to life. Working closely with architects and designers, they transform blueprints, sketches, and digital drawings into tangible three-dimensional representations using a variety of materials such as foam, wood, acrylic, and with advanced techniques like 3D printing, milling machines, and laser cutters. These models help visualize and refine designs, allowing architects to better understand scale, form, and spatial relationships throughout different stages of a project.
Beyond aiding design development, architectural models serve as powerful communication tools. They enable architects to present their ideas clearly to clients, stakeholders, and construction teams, making complex architectural concepts more accessible and easier to evaluate. Whether used for early concept exploration, detailed working prototypes, or polished presentation pieces, these models help identify potential design challenges and improve proposals before construction begins. This talk will explore the skills, materials, and techniques involved in architectural model making and highlight its significance in the architecture workflow.
Adams Scales is a maker, a designer, and a trained architect. Besides making scale models, he fabricate furniture, lighting, interiors, parts of buildings, parts of designs, and many more things. He uses 3D printers, milling machines, and laser cutters to create hand-crafted objects. His clients are artists, architects, designers, and developers and really anyone with something to make. His website, adamscales.net, is a record of some of the things he’s brought into the world.
The Berlage Sessions is a thematic series exploring critical approaches to investigate architecture’s history and theory. Its spring 2025 edition, The Architect’s Friends, interrogates interdisciplinary dynamics between architects and designers. The series will dissect collaborative processes, emphasizing mutual creative exchange across design disciplines such as graphic design, photography, and spatial practice. Speakers will include artists, graphic designers, model makers, photographers, and others.