Towards hands-on computing in design: An analysis of the haptic dimension of model making

Model making plays a crucial part in the early stages of architectural design. It captures spatial percepts and allows for three dimensional thinking and evaluation, hence establishing a direct connection between the body and the object. In the context of architectural design, model making enables exploration of the formal and the spatial qualities of a design through the contrasts in different aspects such as form, size, color or material. The easily revisable nature of the conceptual models helps architects to search for the design alternatives (Knoll and Hechinger, 2007, 19). Architectural scale models are design tools that promote thinking and the communication between the designer and the design (Smith, 2004). Models in the making, aside from serving the material undertaking of a design idea, act as sketches just as two dimensional sketch drawings do. Gürsoy (2010) has recently discussed model-making as a form of preliminary design sketching, and the possible contribution of its inherent ambiguities to the design process. Model sketches are objects in becoming, subject to the designer's spatial perception and intellect. They are continually open to discoveries.