Architectural Models in context: creativity, skill and spectacle

Lead Research Organisation: Victoria and Albert Museum
Department Name: Research

Abstract

The proposed Network's central theme is to examine the role of architectural models within the creative process, consider ways in which architectural models can engage public audiences with key architectural and design issues, and explore how digital technologies for 3D modelling and imaging can be utilised in their display and interpretation. The Network will focus on the western tradition, from the early modern period to the contemporary. It will form the first phase of a major project to design and build a virtual museum of architectural models.

In partnership with the Architectural Association (AA), RIBA, and the Sir John Soane's Museum, the Architekturmuseum, Technische Universität Munich, the MAP Laboratory, CNRS and Sorbonne, this network will connect users, ideas and objects in order to promote and support the use of models in academic research and public display. It will bring together experts on architectural models; identify resources on architectural models; and share experience of interpreting architectural models for non-expert audiences. In so doing, it will facilitate knowledge transfer, identify knowledge gaps, and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. The network will increase expert understanding which in turn will generate benefits for the various public audiences with which the professionals interact.

Context:
Architectural models are used throughout the design process. They include concept models, construction models, 1:1 models and presentation models. Although architectural models have much in common with other 3D representations, the complexity of representing a building, the public impact of permanent construction and specific questions of scale set them apart. Like architectural drawings, their significance is that they are tools for thought and communication; they help to make invisible design processes visible and they document moments of communication that are otherwise ephemeral. Unlike 2D depictions, however, they directly convey the embodied 3D qualities of a building and have, since the Renaissance, been seen as the most comprehensible form of architectural representation. Yet whilst the relevance of architectural models is acknowledged by a number of different research and practice-based constituencies: students, architects and designers who use them; model-makers who construct them; curators who look after, display and interpret them; conservators who maintain them; and academics who research them, to date, no forum for knowledge exchange exists; nor is there a comprehensive, searchable resource that lists or attempts to list the institutions in which such collections are housed.

This project is timely for a number of reasons. Museums are showing a renewed interest in their model collections; digital modelling and 3D printing are diversifying the way that models can be generated, increasing their incidence in the creative field; and developments in 3D scanning are offering new modes of access to objects in storage (which models typically are). Finally, in a period of unprecedented urban expansion, many museums are prioritising architecture as a key area for public education and engagement and seeking innovative ways to display architecture within museum walls. Now is the ideal moment to harness this momentum.

Three specialist workshops will bring together the different constituencies that use models: academics, architectural students and practitioners, curators and museum educators. The workshops will feature papers focusing on concrete case studies as well as model-making sessions to encourage understanding of embodied knowledge and practical thinking. Content will be disseminated online as well as through a scholarly publication. Each workshop will focus on a specific question:

Workshop 1. What is an architectural model?
Workshop 2. How do we make and use architectural models?
Workshop 3. How do we interpret architectural models?

Planned Impact

The V&A, the Architekturmuseum of the Technische Universität Munich and Sir J. Soane's Museum provide a gateway to engagement with non-academic communities. As well as housing model collections of national and international importance, these institutions have strong specialist expertise in models, are inherently committed to public-facing activities and have established longstanding links with individuals, communities and organisations -cultural, artistic and commercial- working in the field. The network can draw on their existing experience and infrastructure to engage a variety of users and audiences and maximise the network's impact.

1. Museums holding architectural models worldwide
Architectural museums, and museums that are not primarily architectural but hold such models in their collections would benefit from network activities that will generate insights and ideas which, in the longer term, could form the basis of new strategies and collaborative partnerships to increase the visibility of their collections and engage academics, heritage professionals and non-specialists in the use of them.

2. Architects and model makers worldwide
For this constituency, the network activities and online content it generates will form a spring-board and inspiration for new work. Contacts with the architectural profession will be facilitated by the RIBA (40,000 members worldwide) and the AA (50,000 members worldwide), and professional model makers will be targeted through involvement in the network workshops.

3. Specialists in / potential users of 3D modelling technology
The research unit MAP of the French CNRS will be our principal link with the practitioner community within the Digital Humanities. Through their involvement, the network will explore ways in which the potential of 3D-modelling can be harnessed and exploited to maximum effect within the museum and heritage sector - of particular importance given that in some respects British institutions appear to be lagging behind their Continental European counterparts in the application of these technologies.

4. General public
Models are a continual source of fascination to the general public, seemingly transcending age, gender, class and culture. Existing and potential museum users will benefit from the network's public initiatives, which will include a free exhibition at the AA. The heritage institutions involved in the network offer a substantial public audience for the network's activities: e.g. Sir J. Soane's Museum sees c. 120.000 visitors p.a., the Pinakothek der Moderne, housing the Architekturmuseum in Munich, c. 1 mil visitors p.a., the V&A c. 3.7 mil visitors p.a.

ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
The network's core partners will facilitate engagement through their institutional communication channels, including members' newsletters/magazines, websites, online journals and social media. Further impact will also be achieved through the following project activities:

1. Online resources
We will establish network project webpages linked to the V&A website and explore opportunities to develop links between and, where appropriate, content on, other established sites, such as that of ICAM (International Centre for Advanced Materials. This will provide an opportunity to pilot a 'one-stop shop' online portal of architectural models and plan for the resources that would be needed to develop it into a virtual museum.

2. Project events
* Three specialist workshops for museum curators and conservators, architects, model-makers and academics.

* Participatory public event at the RIBA in their 'Tuesday Late' series: a free evening featuring talks, events, performance, film and music on a given theme.

* The research will underpin a free, public exhibition at the AA (similar exhibitions in the past have attracted 3000 to 4000 visitors over a 1-month period, with interest from the practicing architectural community, the architecturally curious public and the press).
 
Title Architectural Models Network Website (built in collaboration with the Architectural Association) 
Description On 6 February 2019 The Architectural Models Network launched our website at our third research workshop in Paris. The website was built in collaboration with the digital team at the Architectural Association, one of our core Network Partners, using the funds provided by the AHRC for this purpose. The aim of the website is to showcase the potential of a centralised hub for the dissemination of information about architectural models. The website is organised around six core spheres pertaining to architectural models: 1. Production 2. History and Research 3. Display 4. Learning/Education 5. Conservation/Storage 6. Documentation Each of these categories is comprised of an introductory text, written by our Network Partners, who are experts in these various fields, a case study, bibliography for further reading and a collection of useful links to significant collections and websites. Related to these various spheres are modular elements that provide more in-depth information on architectural models. These are: Models in Focus: These individual entries on significant architectural models from the collections of our Network Partners are written according to the ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description - Second edition. The intention is to show the potential of a centralised online database of architectural models presented according to recognised international guidelines, which will be useful for future research and will make architectural models accessible for an interested public. Events in Focus: These posts showcase past events and make their full programme available to the public, and also provide space to advertise future events. Practitioners in Focus: These entries form a valuable contribution to the oral history of architectural model making. Audio files and transcripts of interviews with model makers and architects who use models in their work are made available to researchers and the general public. The intention of these posts is to showcase the potential of extending this online oral history project to become a more comprehensive resource. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The page has just been launched to partners and friends and will be launched externally on March 29th when the Architectural Models Network will participate in the V&A's 'Friday late' program. On that occasion the page will be publicized on social media (both by the V&A and by the Network Partners) as well as directly with the attending public. We will report on engagement and viewers statistics in future. 
URL http://archmodelsnetwork.com/
 
Title Audio Recordings 
Description The Network recruited four student volunteers from the V&A/RCA MA History of Design Programme (Sofie Roberts, Dorothy Hill, Margherita Manca) and a research partner (Matthew Wells) to conduct and audio-record interviews for an oral history pilot project organised by the Network. The audio recordings will be accompanied by visuals and included on the Network website. Dorothy Hill conducted and audio-recorded an interview with Patrick McKeogh, the Director of Pipers Model Makers. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The recordings and transcriptions are now ready to be published and final approval of the end product by the interviewees has been/ is being granted. The material will soon be uploaded to our webpage (www.archmodelsnetwork.com). It will be shared on social media, and blog entries for the Network blog hosted by the V&A will be published on the subject. We will report on engagement and viewers statistics in future. 
URL http://www.archmodelsnetwork.com
 
Title Audio Recordings 
Description The Network recruited four student volunteers from the V&A/RCA MA History of Design Programme (Sofie Roberts, Dorothy Hill, Margherita Manca) and a research partner (Matthew Wells) to conduct and audio-record interviews for an oral history pilot project organised by the Network. The audio recordings will be accompanied by visuals and included on the Network website. Margherita Manca conducted and audio-recorded an interview with architects and computational designers, Henry Louth and Vishu Boosham, at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The recordings and transcriptions are now ready to be published and final approval of the end product by the interviewees has been/ is being granted. The material will soon be uploaded to our webpage (www.archmodelsnetwork.com). It will be shared on social media, and blog entries for the Network blog hosted by the V&A will be published on the subject. We will report on engagement and viewers statistics in future. 
URL http://www.archmodelsnetwork.com
 
Title Audio Recordings 
Description The Network recruited four student volunteers from the V&A/RCA MA History of Design Programme (Sofie Roberts, Dorothy Hill, Margherita Manca) and a research partner (Matthew Wells) to conduct and audio-record interviews for an oral history pilot project organised by the Network. The audio recordings will be accompanied by visuals and included on the Network website. Sophie Roberts conducted and audio-recorded an interview with art-historian, designer and model-maker, George Rome-Innes, at the Sir John Soane's Museum, London. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The recordings and transcriptions are now ready to be published and final approval of the end product by the interviewees has been/ is being granted. The material will soon be uploaded to our webpage (www.archmodelsnetwork.com). It will be shared on social media, and blog entries for the Network blog hosted by the V&A will be published on the subject. We will report on engagement and viewers statistics in future. 
URL http://www.archmodelsnetwork.com
 
Title Audio Recordings 
Description The Network recruited three student volunteers from the V&A/RCA MA History of Design Programme (Sophie Roberts, Dorothy Hill, Margherita Manca) and a research partner (Matthew Wells) to conduct and audio-record interviews for an oral history pilot project organised by the Network. The audio recordings will be accompanied by visuals and included on the Network website. Matthew Wells conducted and audio-recorded an interview with Biba Dow and Alun Jones, Directors of Dow Jones Architects. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The recordings and transcriptions are now ready to be published and final approval of the end product by the interviewees has been/ is being granted. The material will soon be uploaded to our webpage (www.archmodelsnetwork.com). It will be shared on social media, and blog entries for the Network blog hosted by the V&A will be published on the subject. We will report on engagement and viewers statistics in future. 
URL http://www.archmodelsnetwork.com
 
Title Board Game 
Description As part of the Network's engagement activities, a training opportunity was created for 4 students on the V&A/RCA History of Design program (3 MA students and 1 PhD student), to collaborate on the creation of an activity to be run as part of the V&A's Friday late program for March 2019. The general theme of the evening is 'Copy\Paste'. In this context the Architectural Models Network activity, entitled, "Architectural Avatars. Uncover the link!' will stimulate the visitors to reflect on the different role played by models -in a broad sense- in architecture. Visitors will play an especially produced memory game, where buildings need to be matched with their model. This is the blurb which will be shared by the Network and the V&A's Friday late team on social media Architectural Avatars: Uncover the Link Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this memory card game, test your skills by matching together feats of architecture with the models -built, drawn or imagined- that inspired them. Among examples spanning periods, geographies, materials and styles, can you find all the works that can be traced back to Palladio's symmetry or Le Corbusier's modernism before your competitors? Organised by the V&A Research Institute, supported by the AHRC. 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact The production of the table game and the related activity at the V&A's Friday late will allow the Network to share some of its results with the general public and attract more vsitors to its webpage/ media channels, allowing a wider reach of the network more generally. 
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/6xNRRoxP/friday-late-march-2019
 
Title Short Film about the network 
Description The Network recruited three student volunteers from the V&A/RCA MA History of Design Programme (Eve Allen, Lisa Rotzinger, Luisa Hilmer) to film the first Network workshop that took place in London in May 2018. The students attended both days of the workshop to capture footage of the presentations and site visits and produced a three-minute short film showcasing the Network. This video has been shown across our social media platforms and was shown on the website of the Aram Gallery as part of their exhibition Architecture Prototypes and Experiments which ran from 2 August to 1 September 2018. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact The Exhibition was visited by 250 guests on the launch evening and by ca 275 guests in the subsequent weeks. The exhibition's website had 365 visitors. On you tube the video has had 286 views (as of March 13, 2019). 
 
Title Short film for the Architekturmuseum Social Media Channels 
Description Our Network Partner the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München created and shared a short film about our second project workshop in Munich on their social media channels. This video was funded and produced by the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München, a contribution on top of the initial budget. the video has been made available to the Network partners and is now also to be found on the Network's webpage. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact Their Facebook account has 4.5K followers and their Instagram account has 1.5K followers. On Facebook the video reached around 1K followers and generated 69 engagements. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siaEzdcelWI
 
Description The Architectural Models Network was set up to 'examine the role of architectural models within the creative process, consider ways in which architectural models can engage public audiences with key architectural and design issues, and explore how digital technologies for 3D modelling and imaging can be utilised in their display and interpretation.

We have achieved our intended goals in that all the above areas have been considered and discussed amongst the team and more broadly by a range of external stakeholders. Their contributions have in many cases been shared with the wider public through our blog.

The planned outputs have been produced and additional outputs have been created. As envisaged, we held three workshops for experts and we additionally shared some highlights with the wider public through short videos, shared on numerous platforms.
While we had anticipated producing research towards one participatory public event, we ultimately ran two: one at the Building Centre aimed at interested/professional public and one forthcoming in March 2019 as part of the V&A's Friday Late aimed at the general public.
We established ourselves as a hub for knowledge around models through our internet page, which is testified by the enquiries numerous members of the Network received/ are receiving and the level of interest in our public activities and social media outputs.
Research underpinning a free, public exhibition has been conducted and an exhibition is in the planning and will run at the Building Centre in the autumn/winter 2019-20, subject to successful fundraising.
A publication is in the making that will disseminate the outcomes of the Network's work and will take the form of an 'A-Z of Architectural Models'.

Key findings of our work can be summarised as:
1. There is need for a resource that would allow for collections of models to be easily found by researchers and the general public. As evidenced by enquiries and conversations had with a variety of stakeholders, this need is a shared concern amongst academics, museum professionals and, to some extent, creative professionals and general public (collectors etc. in the field).
2. There is a need to further develop a platform for the sharing of good practice regarding conservation, storage and documentation of models, and of views/experiences of model making in contemporary practice. A strong interest for such a resource has been expressed by architects, and even more, by model makers.
3. A wealth of information about recent dramatic changes in design practices, which had a great effect on model making, is being lost as we face a generational change. These testimonies should be recorded for future generations before it is too late.
4. We have identified the potential of developing model-making as an educational tool and practice in collaboration with the V&A Research Institute's focus on embodied knowledge (i.e. learning through making and doing).

The Network PI, in collaboration with the Building center and with VARi in 2019 has developed further projects on how to tackle points 2 and 4 above, and follow on funding has been awarded, which will allow to trial some of the ideas the Network has been working on.
Exploitation Route The Network has considered a number of ways in which its work can be taken forward and put to use in different contexts. This could be amongst museum and conservation professionals, academics, architects and model makers, specialists in 3D modelling and potential users of 3D modelling technology, as well as the general public and young audiences including school children. These are the areas in which we see a particularly strong potential:
-Development of strategies and tools for realising the Educational capability of models.
-Adoption by institutions of techniques to create annotated digital models in order to capitalise on their ability to facilitate research, care and public enjoyment.
-Development of Guidelines for the storage, care and documentation of architectural models.
- Development of a search engine that would draw down information from collections worldwide that have architectural models and make them available through one portal (IIIF technology would need be used).
-Development of an oral history archive documenting the last generation of hand-skilled model makers, who have witnessed the rise of digital design and model making in architectural practice.

Plans are being developed by Network partners to conduct some further trials that engage with the first two points above. Follow on funding will be sought.
In order to further the other initiatives enumerated above, a more complex and comprehensive project will need to be developed, involving a number of stakeholders and commensurate resources.
Sectors Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
URL http://www.archmodelsnetwork.com
 
Description The Network has engaged a number of different audiences, through its presence on the internet as part of the V&A's website, on social media (Twitter and Instagram), partnerships with different charitable institutions and private firms, as well as the workshops organised in three European locations. As demonstrated in the individual sections of the form, we have been able to reach: 1. The General Public (Web and Social Media, guided visits and talks, Friday Late event at the V&A) 2. Graduate and postgraduate students. We provided training opportunities through talks and placements by which young people developed different skills, from interviewing to historical research, film making to engagement with public audiences in a museum environment. The students have been exposed to interactions with highly skilled professionals and given the opportunity to increase their employability. 3. The professional world: architects, model-makers, conservators, curators. Through connections made in conjunction with the Network's workshops and public facing activities (on line and in person, such as the blog and the 'Shaping Space' event at the Building centre) we have interacted with a number of professionals, and representatives of the creative and, to some extent, building industries. In this field, we feel we have had a particularly strong impact: - Model makers and architects have commended the work of the Network and expressed the need for a platform to share, discuss and interrogate further their practice. - Reflections developed within the network have already influenced conservation and curation practices (e.g. acquisitions) in the partner institutions. - Conservators from different countries have contacted the network to ask for information and guidance on the storage and preservation of objects in their care. We hope such impact will increase further over time. The legacy material we produced and made available on our internet site will be shared further and added to. Moreover, we are planning some follow up activities in response to the needs expressed to us during the life of the Network, which will increase the impact of the work conducted so far, if funded. 4. Academia. The sharing of research and its methodological underpinning within the Network and beyond has introduced possible avenues for further study of the role played by models historically and in contemporary practice. Some of the work reflects on bodies of sources, which can be applied to historic periods. For example; considering if and how the representation of idealised buildings in Renaissance art (e.g. paintings and tabernacles) can be used as a source for researching the nature and alternative uses of architectural models. Or it can be applied to the study of society today - for example encouraging a reflection on what an archive of contemporary practice might look like. Furthermore, the Network has had an impact on aspects of the digital humanities, stimulating the adaptation and development of existing experimental digital tools for the study, documentation and curation of architectural models.
First Year Of Impact 2019
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural,Societal
 
Description Co-investigator invited to join the advisory board for the 1840 London Model
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Following her activities as the co-investigator of the Architectural Models Network, Olivia Horsfall Turner has been invited to join the advisory board of the London 1840 model. The London 1840 model is a 1:1500-scale wooden model of London as it was in the year 1840. Still under construction, it is publicly displayed as the work progresses, and is also developing a digital presence. The primary and secondary research necessary to build the model is generating data which will have numerous applications including mapping historic population densities, pinpointing building dates and demolition dates, developing a gazetteer of residents, facilitating historic poverty mapping, and the mapping of trades. As well as these applications for historic research, the model has proved highly successful in engaging contemporary viewers with issues surrounding planning and urban change. More information about the model is available here: https://www.london1840.com/home
URL https://www.london1840.com/home
 
Description Training Opportunity for MA Researchers: Historical research with application to experimental digital tool
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The network recruited one MA student volunteer from the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme (Mark Hodge) to conduct research on elements of the Albert Hall model in the V&A collection, to be used for the annotations of the 3D digital model we are producing as a pilot in collaboration with our Network Partners at Map (CNRS, Marseille). The student worked on this as part of the Project Portfolio component of his MA (the Project Portfolio is a body of independent work that applies the skills of the postgraduate design historian in a professional context; students dedicate 70-90 hours of independent study to the Project Portfolio work; types of project can include participation in a collaborative design project, or working with a V&A curator on a V&A gallery or exhibition project).
 
Description Training Opportunity for MA Researchers: Oral History Pilot Project
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The network recruited three MA student volunteers from the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme (Sophie Roberts, Dorothy Hill, Margherita Manca) to conduct and audio-record the interviews for an oral history pilot project organised by the Network. The students have all received training in the practices and ethics of oral history as a research method. They conducted and audio-recorded interviews with two architects and two professional model-makers and have also each created the transcript from the interviews. This process provided a unique opportunity to manage and conduct an oral history interview and produce a valuable research output. The students worked on this as part of the Project Portfolio component of their MA (the Project Portfolio is a body of independent work that applies the skills of the postgraduate design historian in a professional context; students dedicate 70-90 hours of independent study to the Project Portfolio work; types of project can include participation in a collaborative design project, or working with a V&A curator on a V&A gallery or exhibition project).
 
Description Training Opportunity for MA Researchers: Workshop Filming, Video Editing and Production
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The network recruited three MA student volunteers from the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme (Eve Allen, Lisa Rotzinger, Luisa Hilmer) to film the first network workshop that took place in London in May 2018. The students attended both days of the workshop to capture footage of the presentations and site visits and produced a three-minute short film showcasing the Network. This video has been shown across our social media platforms and was shown on the website of the Aram Gallery as part of their exhibition Architecture Prototypes and Experiments which ran from 2 August to 1 September 2018, and will be shown at the V&A's 'Friday Late' event on March 29th. In this way the students' work (and the Network) get considerable exposure. The students worked on this as part of the Project Portfolio component of their MA (the Project Portfolio is a body of independent work that applies the skills of the postgraduate design historian in a professional context; students dedicate 70-90 hours of independent study to the Project Portfolio work; types of project can include participation in a collaborative design project, or working with a V&A curator on a V&A gallery or exhibition project).
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iByn6pG-6qQ
 
Description Training Opportunity for MA and PhD students: V&A's Friday late
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact As part of the Network's engagement activities, a training opportunity was created for 4 students on the V&A/RCA History of Design program (3 MA students and 1 PhD student), to collaborate on the creation of an activity to be run as part of the V&A's Friday late program for March 2019. The general theme of the evening is 'Copy\Paste'. In this context the Architectural Models Network activity, entitled, "Architectural Avatars. Uncover the link!' will stimulate the visitors to reflect on the different role played by models -in a broad sense- in architecture. Visitors will play an especially produced memory game, where buildings need to be matched with their model. The students were briefed on the results of the network's research and the links with the Friday late theme, and involved in the conception of the game, reflecting on different roles played by models and different definitions of what a model is. They were then involved in the creative and artistic production of posters and the board game itself. Finally they are now involved in the practical planning, liaising with professionals within the museum. On March 29th they will be involved in the delivery of the event and the public engagement aspect. At the end of the activity they will have received training and networking opportunities in a number of areas.
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/6xNRRoxP/friday-late-march-2019
 
Description Training Opportunity for Museum Staff
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Following her activities as the Principal Investigator of the Architectural Models Network Simona Valeriani has been invited to give a talk at the V&A Research Institute's Research Training Session (for staff Museum wide), on "Building Research Networks" (20.11.2018).
 
Description Training Opportunity for PhD students
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Following her activities as the Principal Investigator of the Architectural Models Network Simona Valeriani has been invited to give the Key note talk at the LAHP Cohort Development evening event at Soane Museum (12 February 2019). This was an opportunity to showcase the work of the Network and to use the methodologies and contents developed as a basis for training the PhD students attending.
 
Description Training Opportunity for PhD students
Geographic Reach Europe 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact At the Architectural Models Workshop in Paris (February 2019) we invited as a speaker a second year PhD student, Emilien Cristia (UMR Map), who gave a paper on 'Influence and redefinition of professional practices introduced by the emergence of the digital model in the construction sector. This was a very interesting contribution to the workshop, high-lightening the different roles played by digital models on the building site and for the long-term management of buildings. Moreover, it was an excellent opportunity for the student to present his research to an academic audience and receive feedback. Other PhD students were present in the audience and participated in discussion.
 
Description Training Opportunity for PhD students
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Following her activities as the Principal Investigator of the Architectural Models Network Simona Valeriani has been invited to give a talk at the London Arts and Humanities Partnership/ Routledge Publishing Workshop (Senate House, London 26.11.2018) on "Research Impact and Engagement: The Architectural Models Network". The event was aimed at PhD students from the LAHP consortium).
 
Description Training for Postgraduate students
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Teaching sessions, including visits to see and study models in the V&A's galleries have been held by the PI in the Autumn term of the Academic Year 2017-18, aimed at students on the V&A/RCA History of Design MA.
 
Description Training opportunity for an AHRC-funded doctoral student
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The research network has provided an opportunity for the AHRC-funded doctoral student Matthew Wells to become a research partner alongside prominent researchers and influencers in the field. This is proving significant for his academic and professional development. Through the network he has had the opportunity to not only shape the field of study and professional conversation around architectural models going forward but to engage in tangible training opportunities. Matthew has taken responsibility for compiling an annotated bibliography for our research members: this has entailed identifying and sourcing seminal texts in the field and outlining for others why these texts should be considered pivotal in shaping our understanding of what architectural models are in a conceptual sense and the major points for consideration in professional practices around model making and conservation going forward. This bibliography will form the basis of a research literature database, which will be one of the outputs of the research network.
 
Description Working with Sheerness Dockyard Preservation
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Our research partner Matthew Wells has been working with Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust to refurbish the surviving portion of George Ledwell Taylor's 1826 Grade II*-listed church. In particular he has been researching the historical production and display of the Sheerness Dockyard Model, which, after conservation, will be the central exhibition within the restored church and allow for greater public understanding of Sheerness and its history. Matthew has prepared a 4,000-word report and will have a continuing role in the curation of the model and contemporary drawings in the restored church.
 
Description Shaping Spaces - Architectural Models in Context (Research Grant, Follow-on Funding for Impact & Engagement)
Amount £99,989 (GBP)
Funding ID AH/T006374/1 
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2020 
End 03/2021
 
Title Annotated research bibliography 
Description At present there exists no centralised repository of information and literature for the study of architectural models. One of the main outputs of the Architectural Models Research Network will be a database of scholarly and professional literature pertinent to the study, making and conservation of architectural models. The purpose of the database will be to facilitate and inform future research and practice. We have started creating this database on a micro level with an annotated bibliography that has been disseminated to all of our research partners. Matthew Wells, an AHRC-funded doctoral student and member of our research team, and Mark Morris, representative of the AA in our Network, have taken responsibility for identifying the seminal texts related to architectural models. On a weekly basis Matthew is providing a brief description of two texts to be read that week by our network partners. This bibliography and the dissemination of these readings is crucial to creating productive and informed discussion at our first research workshop in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018. All network partners are currently compiling their own list of annotated suggested entries to expand the categories included in our working bibliography. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This bibliography and the dissemination of these readings is already generating fruitful discussion among our network partners and is shaping the planning and organisation of our research workshops and public facing events. Participation in these reading exercises on the part of our network members is crucial to creating productive and informed discussion at our first research workshop in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018. The annotated bibliography is in its development stage and is currently being expanded, it will be released to the public towards the end of the network's lifecycle. 
 
Title Improvements to Storage Labelling 
Description As a consequence of sharing best practice as part of the Architectural Models Research Network, our Network Partner the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München has begun adding additional information to the labelling of their model storage. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Adding additional information to the labelling of their model storage makes it easier to identify individual objects without having to access the museum's Filemaker database. 
 
Title Improvements to the Storage of Models at the Architectural Association 
Description Discussion and contact with other members of the Network has influenced policies at the Architectural Association regarding the storage and display of their collection of models. As a result, they have formulated new processes for the filming and cataloguing architectural models that space constraints do not allow them to retain onsite. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Network partner Ed Bottoms from the AA had this to say: "Perhaps the key finding, or realisation, was the incredible potential (and need) for further collaboration between institutions who look after and care for architectural models. The diversity of the network workshops revealed the astonishing scale/quantity of architectural models which exist across collections, but about which information is not readily available to researchers. The need for collaborating in ways which would permit the sharing of such knowledge and enable greater access (in different forms of media) is one of the central findings". 
 
Title Innovative research into the preservation of contemporary model materials 
Description As a result of the Network, the Royal Institute of British Architects are now planning to collaborate with the V&A Science department to artificially age a 3D-printed model to assess what might happen to this relatively new material in years to come, and inform the conservation plans of collections objects made from comparable material. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Results will focus on what might happen to this relatively new material in years to come, and inform the conservation plans of collections objects made from comparable material. 
 
Title Making photographic collections of architectural models available online 
Description Inspired by our ongoing dialogue regarding the importance of public access to significant collections of architectural models, the RIBA has started to photograph their collection of architectural models to make them available via Ribapix.com (the RIBA's online Image Library). 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact In the past, very few architectural models have been photographed, mainly those that have previously been displayed. This initiative will ensure that this area of the collection will have a more visible presence online and thus greater accessibility for the public. 
 
Title Oral history pilot project 
Description The Architectural Models Research Network has conducted an interview project to gather and record information related to the role and use of architectural models in contemporary architectural practice and approaches to model-making by professional model-makers. These interviews will be a valuable resource for public and professional audiences, greatly augmenting the current research infrastructure for the study of architectural model-making. The network interviewed two architectural model-makers and two architects who use architectural models as part of the design process: Sophie Roberts conducted and audio-recorded an interview with art-historian, designer and model-maker, George Rome-Innes (model-maker and model-restorer based in London, who teaches at the Chelsea School of Art) at the Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Dorothy Hill conducted and audio-recorded an interview with Patrick McKeogh, the Director of Pipers Model Makers (Professional Model Making Firm, London). Matthew Wells conducted and audio-recorded an interview with Biba Dow and Alun Jones, Directors of Dow Jones Architects. Margherita Manca conducted and audio-recorded an interview with architects and computational designers, Henry Louth and Vishu Boosham, at Zaha Hadid Architects CODE in London. The pilot project provides a valuable repository of contemporary thinking and practices around architectural model-making as a valuable resource for future research. The practitioners were interviewed in their studios and it provided an opportunity for them to relive and record some of their experiences around models. A list of potential interviewees was nominated by the core Network Partners, who then chose four whom they felt would speak eloquently about the issues most relevant to the Network. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This interview project is intended to serve as a pilot for a possible future 'library' of interviews of this kind, as part of a larger research project that will form a historically significant collection of archived interviews. The audio files and the digitized and hard copies of the transcripts will be stored in the V&A Archive. 
 
Title Pioneering 3D visual modelling and annotation as a research method 
Description CNRS-MAP is experimenting with the potential of 3D annotation for the documentation of physical models, via the development of Aïoli (www.aioli.cloud), a reality-based 3D annotation platform for the collaborative documentation of heritage artefacts. This system introduces an original informative linkage between the physical object space and its digital representation by integrating the following features: • An incremental image-based 3D spatialisation process to manage the geometric merging of several images coming from different actors at different temporal states; • A 2D/3D annotation framework enabling users to draw, visualise and register relevant surface regions by handling simple 2D images spatially oriented around a dynamic 3D representation; • A multi-layered morphology-based data structuring model to accurately describe real objects in all their geometric complexity and according to multidisciplinary observations; 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The V&A is collaborating with CNRS-MAP on this initiative. The following models from the Victoria and Albert Museum have been professionally photographed and are currently being made into digital 3D models via the Aioli platform created by CNRS-MAP. This software has allowed us not only to create these models but also to annotate them three dimensionally so that we envisage that they will become valuable research and teaching tools. The following models are being used for this purpose: • Architectural model of the Red House, Chelsea, London, by Tony Fretton, in the care of Design, Architecture, Digital section, V&A (Object number: CD.34-2017) • Architectural Model of the Royal Albert Hall, South Kensington, London, by Francis Fowke, in the care of the Sculpture section, V&A (Object number: A.10-1973) • Architectural Model of the Royal Albert Hall, South Kensington, London, by Henry D. Scott, Albert Hall archives. 
 
Title Pioneering 3D visual modelling as a research method 
Description Our Network Partner HISTARA, 7347 (Histoire de l'Art, des Representations, de l'État et du Pouvoir dans l'Europe Modern et Contemporaine), a unit of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne), abbreviated EPHE, has been pioneering research into the use of 3D models in art historical research. In collaboration with the University of Bologna (Faculty di Ingegneria) they have been creating virtual models to enhance understanding of the realised projects of Giuliano da Sangallo (Santa Maria delle Carceri and Palazzo Orsini-Lante) and to create 3D reconstructions according to his drawings (for instance from the Codice Barberiniano). 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Some of the research findings have been published in "Designare" 56, 2018. They have also recently created a virtual model based on Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings of the "tiburio" of Milan cathedral. This was presented for the first time during the workshop: Virtual models and scientific value. Historical Studies and virtual models in the Age of digital humanities (Organised by Hermann Schlimme and Sabine Frommel) at the Technische Universität Berlin, 7-8 November 2018. 
 
Title Bibliographic Database on new website 
Description As part of our new project website, each category pertaining to architectural models hosts its own related bibliography. This will form an invaluable research tool for those interested in architectural models. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact These categories will form an invaluable research tool for those interested in architectural models. 
 
Title Pilot project: Documentation of Architectural Models through new website 
Description On 6 February 2019 The Architectural Models Research Network launched their Network website at their third research workshop in Paris. The website was built in collaboration with the digital team at the Architectural Association, one of our core Network Partners, using the funds provided by the AHRC for this purpose. The aim of the website is to showcase the potential of a centralised hub for the dissemination of information about architectural models in a research database. To this end the Models in Focus element was created. These individual entries on significant architectural models from the collections of our Network Partners are written according to the ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description - Second edition. The intention is to show the potential of a centralised online database of architectural models presented according to recognised international guidelines, which will be useful for future research and will make architectural models accessible for an interested public. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This database will be useful for future research and will make architectural models accessible for an interested public, stimulating multiple collaborations. 
 
Description AHRC Research Network Architectural Models in context: collaborating with AHRC CDP (V&A/RCA) History of Design 
Organisation Victoria and Albert Museum
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Alongside the main Network partners and collaborators, Matthew has been developing the framework and scope of the three specialist workshops for museum curators and conservators, architects, model-makers and academics to be held in London, Munich, and Paris. Matthew has also prepared a bibliography of readings for the partnership group and has been circulating two readings per week with a short introductory text, which is intended to create dialogue and discussion between network members ahead of the workshops.
Collaborator Contribution The international cohort of partners in the Network offers a level of intellectual input that will help develop the CDP studentship through discussion of the topic and presentation of Matthew's findings. Equally, the Network partners provide access to engagement with non-academic communities. These institutions have strong specialist expertise in models, are inherently committed to public-facing activities and have established longstanding links with individuals, communities and organisations working in the field. Through the network Matthew will be able to draw on the partner's existing experience and infrastructure to engage a variety of users and audiences in order to maximise his own research impact.
Impact Matthew has produced a prepared an annotated bibliography of readings for the partnership group and helped to organise the programme for the London workshop.
Start Year 2017
 
Description CDP Royal College of Arts-V&A museum 
Organisation Royal College of Art
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Through the involvement of Matthew Wells, AHRC funded 3rd year PhD student (CDP Royal College of Arts-V&A museum), the reach of the network is being expanded to include the RCA and the CDP consortium, with benefits both in terms of knowledge sharing on our part and on training opportunities for the PhD student (reported on in the separate section 'influence on policy or practice').
Collaborator Contribution For details of Matthew's involvement please see his own entry (under 'collaborations') on researchfish.
Impact A first result of this partnership has been Matthew's work on producing a common annotated bibliography for the group as a starting point for productive conversations. Matthew has also published a number of articles, other outcomes are in the pipeline and will be reported about in future. He has now completed his dissertation and moved to a postdoc position at the ETH Zurich.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Collaborating with Architectural firm 'Roz Barr' 
Organisation Roz Barr Architects
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Network filmed some of the working practices of Roz Barr architects and invited them to be part of our public facing event that was held at the Building centre in December 2018.
Collaborator Contribution Roz Barr architects were involved in the Network's first workshop in May 2018. On that occasion they welcomed the Network partners into their office, showed us different models they have been making over the years and discussed with us the different roles they play in the design process. They also agreed to welcome MA students, who were producing a short film for the network and gave them the opportunity to film. From that conversation a closer relationship evolved. So much so that they agreed to be part of our public facing event that was held at the Building centre in December 2018.
Impact We are now in conversation about possible ways of collaborating in future, including in the activities envisaged for the follow on funding application for engagement of different audiences, and possibly, our publication.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaborating with Model Making Firm 'Pipers' 
Organisation Pipers Model Makers Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Network interviewed Pipers Model makers and they are now one of the 4 practices (model makers and architects) that build the core of our oral history pilot.
Collaborator Contribution Pipers Model makers were involved in the Network's first workshop in May 2018. On that occasion they welcomed the Network partners into their firm, showed us their model making facilities and practice, as well as discussing with us their interaction with architects, and different ways in which they operate. From that conversation a closer relationship evolved. So much so that they agreed to be interviewed and they are now one of the 4 practices (model makers and architects) that build the core of our oral history pilot. They also agreed to lead, for free, a guided visit to the London Model housed at the Building centre, as part of our public facing event in December 2018.
Impact Furthermore, we are now in conversation with them, in relation to our follow-on funding application. They are considering contributing to our outreach program, towards young architectural practices and secondary school children, both financially and with in-kind contributions, such as donating model makers staff time for the running of workshops.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaboration with École Pratique d. Hautes Études Sorbonne, HISTARA (EA 7347, EPHE) 
Organisation École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution One of the Network's workshops was held at École Pratique d. Hautes Études Sorbonne, HISTARA (EA 7347, EPHE).
Collaborator Contribution The École Pratique d. Hautes Études Sorbonne, HISTARA (EA 7347, EPHE) is one of our core partners. They had agreed already in the Network planning phase that they would make contributions in kind to the project by hosting one of the workshops. Their financial contribution, however, ended up being more significant. On top of investing staff time and covering the cost of room hire (600 €/day for INHA members), they paid for some of the catering costs in order to be able to have external speakers joining the core network partners for the dinner and 'topped' up the funds available for a workshop assistant. In total, these additional financial contributions, not included in the budget submitted to the AHRC, amount to 500€.
Impact As the host of our third network workshop, our Network Partner HISTARA (Sorbonne University) enabled Network partners to establish several new connections with local museums in Paris. Corinne Belier (CAPA), let the Network partners' visit to the very extensive collection of models held by the Cite de l'architecture et du Patrimoine, which spans three centuries and has its origin in 19th century collecting of casts and models.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaboration with Architekturmuseum Munich 
Organisation Architekturmuseum der TUM
Country Germany 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution One of our workshops was held at the Architekturmuseum Munich and we produced a short film on the network's workshop, which is being shared through their channels and the network's channels. The V&A and the other British Network partners had an opportunity to forge international contacts and widen their professional connections.
Collaborator Contribution The Architekturmuseumh Munic is one of our core partners. They had agreed already in the Network planning phase that they would make contributions in kind to the project by hosting one of the workshops. Their financial contribution, however, ended up being much more significant. On top of investing staff time and covering the cost of room hire (590 Euro/day for members of the Technical University), they paid for the production of a short film on the network's workshop, which is being shared through their channels and the network's channels. They also 'topped' up the funds available for a workshop assistant. In total, these additional financial contributions, not included in the budget submitted to the AHRC, amount to 1220€.
Impact A short film on the network's workshop was produced, which is being shared through their channels and the network's channels.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaboration with Royal Albert Hall Archive 
Organisation Royal Albert Hall
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution During the life of the Network we started a collaboration with the Royal Albert Hall Archive, which holds a Victorian design model of the Hall. As part of a not originally anticipated collaboration and output we were able, with financial support by the Hall, to conduct photogrammetry of the model and, through our partners from the MAP laboratory in Marseille, to produce a 3D digital model of the artefact. The aim was to reunite in the digital space different objects which document the development of the design of the hall over time. The V&A, in fact, holds an earlier model of the hall, which was also scanned.
Collaborator Contribution The Royal Albert Hall Archive was able to financially support the photogrammetry project of the Victorian design model of the Hall.
Impact As part of a follow-on project we are putting a funding application towards at the moment, we will produce, and present to the public, annotated digital models, using cutting edge experimental software provided by our partners of the MAP laboratory in Marseille.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Collaboration with VARI 
Organisation The V&A Research Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution As part of the work of the Architectural Models Network we developed close links with VARI (the V&A's research Institute) in particular with the project 'Encounters on the Shop floor'.
Collaborator Contribution Several meetings were held between the Principal Investigator (Simona Valeriani) and Marta Ajmar (VARI deputy Director), as well as with VARI's Education Resident (Rebecca Goozee). This was in order to discuss the educational potential of models and model making for secondary school children. The collaboration with VARI also included work done with VARI's digital producer, Neil Cullen, who has assisted us in optimizing our digital outputs. The assistance by VARI members of staff was offered almost at no cost, and is to be considered a further in kind contribution to the project by the V&A.
Impact As part of a follow-on project, for which funding will be sought soon, we are planning to deliver a series of ad hoc workshops, employing Embodied Learning practices to encourage the use of design, critical engagement and making as a cross curricular activity.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Model makers - A Oral History Collection 
Organisation Museum of French Monuments
Country France 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Simona Valeriani, Network's PI, has been contacted by the Conservateur de la galerie d'architecture moderne et contemporaine, Musée des Monuments français, Paris, to share the experience collected as part of the Network's activities, in interviewing architects and model makers, to discuss what a more systematic project could look like, and what teh methodological challenges would be.
Collaborator Contribution The Galerie d'architecture moderne et contemporaine, Musée des Monuments français is planning a campaign of interviews with model makers and they are sharing with us their plans and methodological approaches.
Impact This is a collaboration that has just started and it's early days. We hope to use this as an opportunity to reflect on one of the points we high-lighted as a result of the Network's activities: the need to give the model makers' profession more visibility and to capture some of the rich insights they have into the way the architectural design process has been changing over the last decades.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation Architectural Association School of Architecture
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich
Country Germany 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS)
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation Pipers Model Makers Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation RIBA - Royal Institute of British Architects
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation Roz Barr Architects
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation Sir John Soane's Museum
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Research Network Official Partners 
Organisation École pratique des hautes études (EPHE)
Country France 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaboration with our official partners is at the centre of our AHRC-funded Research Network. Our official partners in the network, which is hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, are: The Architectural Association, London; Architekturmuseum der Technische Universität, München (TUM); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Modèles et simulations pour l'Architecture et le Patrimoine (MAP); École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne/ Research Unit EA 7347 Histoire de l'art, des représentations et de l'administration dans l'Europe moderne et contemporaine (HISTARA); Royal Institute of British Architects; and Sir John Soane's Museum. Since the official beginning of the network in September 2017, we have been meeting regularly in person and digitally with our official partners to shape the scope and planned outputs of the network. Our research team at the V&A has been hosting these meetings and initiating productive discussions around the planning and organisation of our network workshops in London, Paris and Munich and our public facing exhibitions and events in London. We have compiled and shared with our research members a working annotated bibliography concerning architectural models. We have also created the infrastructure for disseminating assigned readings each week with our research members so that we are all informed of the current state of the field in the study of architectural models and the landscape of current practice concerning architectural model making and conservation when we meet together for our first network workshop in May 2018. Our research team has also instigated relationships with new collaborators: these relationships will be central to achieving the desired outputs of the research network. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects have agreed to host parts of our workshop in London at the beginning of May and to present to our research members on contemporary practices around model making.
Collaborator Contribution All research members from our partner organisations have already contributed a significant proportion of their time to our partner meetings, to engaging in our reading assignments and to providing images and copy for our network webpage and social media channels. Pipers Model Makers and Roz Barr Architects are professional firms, who we have approached to ensure an involvement of non-academic/ museum based professionals in the work of the network. They have agreed to participate in our London workshop and to host us in their studios to share aspects of their practice with us. However these contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms at this stage. The figure to which the core partners' multifaceted in kind contribution to the network (staff time, facilities/equipment for our research workshops etc.) will amount to is estimated in the documents submitted with the application. A post-hoc evaluation, including in kind contributions by new collaborators, will be submitted with the next report. The collaborators' in kind contribution is set to increase in the next phase of the network, when Workshops will take place. For example the Architectural Association will be hosting half a day of our workshop, which will take place in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018, while Sir John Soane's Museum will be hosting an evening event as part of the workshop. Staff members from the AA, RIBA, HISTARA (Sorbonne), TUM and MAP will be attending and presenting at our London workshop.
Impact To date the main outputs of the research network have been the four productive meetings of the official partners, which have led to the creation of further outputs. The partner meetings have enabled the creation of the structure and content of our project webpage. They have also allowed us to define the scope and to plan the schedule for contributions to the V&A blog by both network partners and other relevant guest contributors. These meetings have also allowed us to create the conceptual agenda and practical schedule for our first research workshop, which will be held in London on the 3 and 4 May 2018.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Shaping Space Exhibition and Pubic Program 
Organisation Built Environment Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We have teamed up with the Building Centre (Built Environment Trust) to develop a program for an exhibition and a related series of workshops presenting the results of teh work of the Architectural Models Network. Simona Valeriani has taken the lead in developing the partnership.
Collaborator Contribution The Building centre, with Ms Vanessa Norwood as its newly appointed Creative director, has developed the idea for the exhibition and related public program in cooperation with Simona Valeriani.
Impact We submitted an application for follow on funding, which was successful and the project will start next month.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Sheerness Dockyard Model 
Organisation Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust is working to repair and transform Dockyard Church, which stands at the entrance to the former Royal Dockyard on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. The church, which was badly damaged by fire in 2001, is an architectural masterpiece and one of the most important buildings at risk in the south east of England. In 2017 the Dockyard Church project was awarded a provisional grant of £4.75m by the National Lottery Fund, with £500,000 allocated to developing a community-led project to transform the building into a hub for the arts, business, and tourism. The purpose of the project is to give Sheerness a significant economic and social boost. Matthew Wells has been working with the Trust to refurbish the surviving portion of George Ledwell Taylor's 1826 Grade II*-listed church. In particular, he has been researching the historical production and display of the nineteenth-century model of Sheerness Dockyard, which after conservation will be the central exhibition within the restored church and which will allow for greater public understanding of Sheerness and its history.
Collaborator Contribution The Trust is allowing Matthew unrestricted access to an extremely rare and delicate primary source. More importantly, working with the Trust is also allowing Matthew the opportunity to use his expertise to engage a variety of users and audiences and to maximise the research's impact.
Impact Currently the project is at RIBA Plan of Work Stage 2 'Concept Design' with the location and interpretation of the model in the restored church a part of ongoing design discussions. Matthew has prepared a twelve-page conservation report for the Trust, which allows for greater understanding of how the model was made, displayed, and used.
Start Year 2017
 
Description VARI Encounters Project 
Organisation The V&A Research Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The collaboration with VARi, started during the life of the Research Network, has developed further to become a common Project. Marta Ajmar, Deputy Director of VARI, and leader of the Encounters on the Shop Floor project, has teamed up with SImona Valeriani, to develop a program of workshops for school children and one for professionals, to run alongside a forthcoming exhibition on Architectural Models
Collaborator Contribution Marta's experience in the field of Education and in running such a successful project as 'Encounters on the Shop Floor' (https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/vari-encounters-on-the-shop-floor) has been incredibly valuable in developing an intellectually ambitious and experience based program.
Impact An application for Follow up funding has resulted from this collaboration and has been successful. the project will start next month.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Working with the Building Centre and the Built Environment Trust 
Organisation Built Environment Trust
Department Building Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution On December 5, 2019, The Architectural Models Research Network held its first public-facing event at the Building Centre in London. At this evening event, six leading architectural practices shared projects and their perspectives on model-making and the pivotal role that it plays in their design process.
Collaborator Contribution Practices 6a, dRMM, Dow Jones, Roz Barr Architects, ScanLAB Projects and Stanton Williams spoke to a crowd of over two hundred people who had signed up for free tickets through Eventbrite leading up to the event. These presentations were followed by a round table discussion before the evening closed with a drinks reception. Leading up to the evening talks, there were a series of free guided tours at the Building Centre. The Architectural Association's Design Research Lab (AADRL) guided visitors through the exhibition Digital Turn: AADRL. The show featured a collection of models presenting the lab's experimental approach to design and fabrication within architecture and urbanism. The tour concentrated on the different roles played by models and how they are changing, in particular what might its future look like. The second guided tour was around the New London Model in the New London Architecture gallery. Piper Model Makers offered an insight into the making of the model, while Peter Murray (Chairman of the New London Architecture) spoke about its use in the context of city planning.
Impact The event was very successful not only in terms of number of people attending, but also in terms of engagement on social media platforms, having been shared through the Networks' and the Building Centre's channels. The Building Centre has 22k twitter followers and 2,100 Instagram followers. The collaboration with the Building Centre, not envisaged when we first started the Network, has been a very fruitful one. It has allowed the network to widen its reach into networks of professionals and to connect with the building industry in a way that we could not have done otherwise. We hope such collaboration will continue and grow in the near future. We are in the process of putting together an application for follow on funding to organize an architectural models exhibition accompanied by a rich public program reaching industry, professionals and schools.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Architectural Avatars. Uncover the link! 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Architectural Models Network organised an evening of models and games hosted by the V&A as part of its monthly Friday Late programme. This time the theme was 'Copy/Paste'.
In collaboration with the V&A/RCA History of Design Programme, we thought about copying and inspiration in architecture.
What was historically -and is today- the role played by past, iconic architecture in the creative process? How do artefacts such as models come into the picture?
Students Lorenzo Gabini, Margherita Manca, Qianyao Wang and Roxanne Ravenhill, together with Simona Valeriani, created and especially produced a memory game that sparks inspiration, investigation and amusement.

Please note: This output was inserted in our report in 2019 under 'Future steps' it is now reported here as a confirmation that it has happened, and evaluation of its impact.

The event attracted over 200 visitors who gave thoroughly positive feedback: they enjoyed the game and reported to have learned a lot about the role of models and about the way in which architectural forms are generated taking inspiration and reconfiguring existing examples. Over 20 people signed up to be kept informed of future activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://archmodelsnetwork.com/va-friday-late/
 
Description Architectural Avatars. Uncover the link! 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The workshop "Architectural Avatars, carried out as part of 'Friday Late' at the V&A (a monthly evening of interactive events for the general public) has been publicized on teh Network's blog hosted by the V&A, as well as on the Network's own internet page.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/design-and-society/architectural-avatars-uncover-the-link
 
Description Architectural Models Network Project Page on the V&A Website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The V&A built a project page for the Architectural Models Network to showcase the nature, outputs and research team of the project. Engagement with this page has been positive: since it was set up in February 2018 it has had 2072 views.
Our project page can be accessed here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/architectural-models-in-context
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/architectural-models-in-context
 
Description Architectural Models Network Social Media Channels 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Network has developed both a Twitter account and an Instagram account to showcase its activities and provide a forum for public engagement. Both accounts have been regularly updated with a stream of engaging and relevant content related to architectural models and the activity of the Network in particular. In keeping with broader trends in social media usage, the Instagram account has accrued a much larger following than the Twitter account. The Twitter account has 166 followers, whereas the Instagram has 568 followers. A snapshot of our engagement is included here. Instagram statistics for the week 5-11 February 2019:
Followers: 580
Profile visits: 83
Actions taken: 84
Impressions: 263
Age Range: greatest demographic is 25-34 (followed by 18-24)
Gender: 58% men 42% women
Updates on Network activities have also been shared on the social media platforms of our Partner organisations. For instance, our Network Partner the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München has shared Network updates on their Facebook account which has 4.5K followers and their Instagram account which has 1.5K followers. A short film that they shared about our third research workshop reached 1K followers and generated 69 engagements on Facebook. They also shared photographs of our network workshops in Munich and Paris which generated 55 and 69 actions respectively.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Architectural Models Network Website (built in collaboration with the Architectural Association) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On 6 February 2019 The Architectural Models Network launched our Network website at our third research workshop in Paris. The website was built in collaboration with the digital team at the Architectural Association, one of our core Network Partners, using the funds provided by the AHRC for this purpose. The aim of the website is to showcase the potential of a centralised hub for the dissemination of information about architectural models. The website is organised around six core spheres pertaining to architectural models:
7. Production
8. History and Research
9. Display
10. Learning-Education
11. Conservation-Storage
12. Documentation
Each of these categories is comprised of an introductory text, written by our Network Partners, who are experts in these various fields, a case study, bibliography for further reading and a collection of useful links to significant collections and websites. Related to these various spheres are modular elements that provide more in-depth information on architectural models. These are:
Models in Focus: These individual entries on significant architectural models from the collections of our Network Partners are written according to the ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description - Second edition. The intention is to show the potential of a centralised online database of architectural models presented according to recognised international guidelines, which will be useful for future research and will make architectural models accessible for an interested public.
Events in Focus: These posts showcase past events and make their full programme available to the public, and also provide space to advertise future events.
Practitioners in Focus: These entries form a valuable contribution to the oral history of architectural model making. Audio files and transcripts of interviews with model makers and architects who use models in their work are made available to researchers and the general public. The intention of these posts is to showcase the potential of extending this online oral history project to become a more comprehensive resource.
Our project website can be accessed here: http://archmodelsnetwork.com/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://archmodelsnetwork.com/
 
Description Article by Matthew Wells in The Victorian 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Our research partner Matthew Wells wrote an article on architectural models in The Victorian, the magazine for members of The Victorian Society: M. Wells, 'Building in models', The Victorian (Summer 2018).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Articles by Simona Valeriani in professional/ academic newsletters 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The principal investigator of the project, Simona Valeriani, wrote a short article for the annual Newsletter (February 2019) of the Koldewey Gesellschaft (German Society of Building Archaeologists) to raise awareness of the research network and its objectives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Articles by Simona Valeriani in professional/ academic newsletters 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The principal investigator of the project, Simona Valeriani, wrote a short article for the annual Newsletter (Winter 2018-19) of the International Society for Model Research (based at the Humboldt University in Berlin) to raise awareness of the research network and its objectives.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Blog Activity: The Development of our own Dedicated Section on the V&A Blog 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A continuous stream of content pertaining to architectural models has been published as part of our own section that has been created on the V&A Blog. Since 28 February 2018 19 separate blog entries have been published from a wide range of qualified individuals, from our Network Partners and architects, to model makers, conservation specialists, and doctoral students with related theses. The objective behind the blog has been to showcase the work of the Network and make it accessible to a broader public audience. It has also allowed us to discuss the varied aspects of architectural model making and we have used the opportunity to broaden the number of interested and relevant professionals and academics who are connected to and have been able to contribute to the Network but who were not part of the core team. Lisa Nash, a senior conservator from the RIBA, one of our core Network Partners, wrote a blog on the problems of conserving architectural models and best practice in their storage: since writing this she has had many enquiries from professionals across the world seeking advice on their collections.
The readership statistics have been very positive. The blog posts were viewed 3502 times and the total time spent on the pages was 137 hours. Each of our blog posts was initially showcased on the landing page of the blog when first published, and the total views of this page in the period was 17k.
Our blog posts can be accessed here: https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/architectural-models-network

The blog will remain active after the official closure of the Network's activities and we have a number of entries in the making, which will appear in the next weeks and months.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/projects/architectural-models-network
 
Description Blog post on Building Centre Webpage 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The work by the Architectural Models Network had an impact on the work conducted by the Building Centre, an institution not originally included amongst the network partners, but with which we have developed a very fruitful and promising working relationship. This has manifested itself, amongst other things, through different entries on their social media. To broaden the reach and remit of the network articles were commissioned for the Building Centre website focusing on model making practitioners; highlighting the dedication and artistry of these incredible model makers.
Dieter Cöllen's cork architectural models (https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/corkasamaterial). This Post generated 3,097 impressions, 100 engagements.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/corkasamaterial
 
Description Blog post on Building Centre Webpage 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The work by the Architectural Models Network had an impact on the work conducted by the Building Centre, an institution not originally included amongst the network partners, but with which we have developed a very fruitful and promising working relationship. This has manifested itself, amongst other things, through different entries on their social media. To broaden the reach and remit of the network articles were commissioned for the Building Centre website focusing on model making practitioners; highlighting the dedication and artistry of these incredible model makers.
Before his time: the complex geometries of John Pickering: This Post generated 2,883 impressions, 57 engagements.
The Building Centre has 22k twitter followers and 2,100 Instagram followers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/before-his-time-the-complex-geometries-of-john-pickering
 
Description Blog posts on Building Centre Webpage 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The work by the Architectural Models Network had an impact on the work conducted by the Building Centre, an institution not originally included amongst the network partners, but with which we have developed a very fruitful and promising working relationship. This has manifested itself, amongst other things, through different entries on their social media. To broaden the reach and remit of the network articles were commissioned for the Building Centre website focusing on model making practitioners; highlighting the dedication and artistry of these incredible model makers.
Glass models reflect architectural past of industrial America: (https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/norwood-viviano-s-glass-models-reflect-the-architectural-past-of-industrial-america)
This Post generated 2,673, 55 engagements.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/news/norwood-viviano-s-glass-models-reflect-the-architectural-past-...
 
Description Conference paper 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact I was invited to present a paper at the conference "Are you a Model?", organised by the University of Darmstadt (2-4 November 2022). I presented entitled "Copying, building, sharing.Multiple approaches to the study of a historical model".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.architektur.tu-darmstadt.de/are-you-a-model/info_ayam/index.en.jsp
 
Description Dialogue with members of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Co-investigator Olivia Horsfall Turner attended the 2018 meeting of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums (ICAM) in Copenhagen and discussed the Research Network with international colleagues from the attending institutions, all of whom either have architectural collections and/or engage in architectural programming.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Display of a Short Video about the network on the Aram Gallery Website 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact As part of their exhibition Architecture Prototypes and Experiments which ran from 2 August to 1 September 2018, The Aram Gallery hosted a short film about the Architectural Models Network on its website. The Exhibition was visited by 250 guests on the launch evening and by ca 275 guests in the subsequent weeks. The exhibition's website had 365 visitors. On Youtube the video has had 286 views (as of March 13, 2019).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Display of a Short Video on the Architekturmuseum Social Media Channels 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Our Network Partner the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München shared a short film about our second project workshop in Munich on their social media channels. Their Facebook account has 4.5K followers and their Instagram account has 1.5K followers. On Facebook the video reached around 1K followers and generated 69 engagements.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Engagement with Enquiries from Professionals and the General Public 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Simona Valeriani (Principal Investigator) and Olivia Horsfall Turner (Co-Investigator) have been contacted by individuals and institutions wanting to discuss the objects in their care, both in terms of assessing their historical significance and in terms of getting advice on their preservation.
A number of architects and model-makers have contacted the Principal Investigator and the Network's contact e-mail to request involvement in the Network and to voice the need for a platform to discuss contemporary (and future) practice of model-making in architecture.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Entry on the Victoria and Albert Museum Blog 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact In February 2018 the research network published the first of its blog entries on the Victoria and Albert Museum website. The aim of this blog was to introduce our research network and to begin the scheduling of our planned blog content. Blogging has been identified as one of our primary tools for engagement with the general public. The V&A Museum blog attracts a lot of traffic so this was deemed the best forum for our blog posts.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/research-department/architectural-models-in-context-creativity-skill-and-s...
 
Description First Architectural Models Network Workshop in London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Architectural Models Network held its first workshop at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on May 3-4, 2018. Day 1 opened with a series of papers on various aspects of architectural models from the history and ontology of architectural models, to their conservation, storage and future in an increasingly digital world. These papers were given by our Network Partners and other invited experts in the field. The late afternoon and evening of were spent visiting the stores of the Royal Institute of British Architects and visiting the model collection at Sir John Soane's Museum. Day 2 comprised visits to the workshops of Pipers Model Makers and to the studio of Roz Barr Architects to explore the role of the contemporary model maker and the place of the model in architectural design. Network Partner meetings were also held on both days in order to plan and develop the activities and outputs of the Network.
The London workshop, being the first in the series, constituted an opportunity for all the partner to physically come together for the first time and to deepen an understanding of common interests and avenues for close collaboration within the network. However, we also started reaching out to model experts in different fields. For example, Mary Morgan, professor of the history and philosophy of science at LSE, helped us place or work within the wider, transdisciplinary intellectual debate around models.
One of the foci of the workshop was on storage and conservation practices, with visits to model store facilities and talks by conservators (themes and activities that were picked up again the workshop 2, in Munich). This laid the ground for entries on our blog and on our new web page on conservation practices, which attracted quite a bit of attention form practitioners.
The workshop also was the first opportunity for the Network to develop connections with representatives in the creative industries, such as model makers and architects. With some of these representatives (Pipers model makers and Roz Barr architects), in the subsequent months, we were able to develop further collaborations that we have reported in other sections of Research Fish.

The program of the workshop can be found here: https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2018/06/07/14/45/33/703dbe03-8616-498d-ab42-2406221a49cd/ArchModels%20Workshop%201%20Programme_London_0304%20May_web%20version.docx.pdf

A short film presenting high-lights from the workshop is to be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iByn6pG-6qQ
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iByn6pG-6qQ
 
Description Instagram account 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Even after the formal end of the network as a funded entity, we have kept our twitter and instagram accounts active and have seen an increase in followers. They have now risen to 785 on Instagram, to be found @archmodelsnet.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://twitter.com/archmodelsnet
 
Description Models: Past, Present and Future of a Design Process 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Simona Valeriani Network PI, was invited to give a talk at the University of Manchester (SEED School of Environment, Education and Development), the Manchester School of Architecture, in conjunction with their B.15 Architectural Models workshop.

Simona presented the activities of the 'Architectural Models in Context' Network and a refection of its findings, with particular regard to the changing role of models in contemporary design. The vent was attended by 70-90 people, many of whom were architectural students, or faculty. Roughly 1/5 were architectural or model making practices.
The discussion in the room and informally after the event was very interesting, with a number of professionals asking to participate in further Network activities. The findings of the Network activities, that modle makers have a story to tell about the challenges and opportunities their profession is going through has been once again confirmed.

Refections on how best these stories could be captured are ongoing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://b15.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/
 
Description New project webpage with legacy materials 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact In October 2022 we launched our new project webpage, containing all the legacy material related to both the Architectural Models Network and and the Shaping Space project.

The main sections it contains are as follows:
- Exhibition (with videos of three curators guided tours of the exhibition)
-Publication (the book published to accompany the exhibition)
-Education, featuring 'Models in School education' (with recordings of CDP sessions, and short films on 'Learning through -Making- Narrative' and Learning through making- Materials', plus teachers resources) and 'Models in higher education' (featuring 4 articles) ,
-Research (with 10 articles)
-Practitioners in focus (10 articles)
-Production (8 articles and one short film)
-Models in focus (23 entries)
-Collecting, preserving and storing (one short film and one article)
-Documentation
-Production

the new webpage has been shared on social media and is being viewed by a large public, we are receiving enquires by different intrested parties, from the general public to academics and professionals
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://archmodelsnetwork.com/
 
Description Public Event at the Building Centre in London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact On December 5, 2019, The Architectural Models Research Network held its first public-facing event at the Building Centre in London. At this evening event, six leading architectural practices shared projects and their perspectives on model making and the pivotal role that it plays in the design process. Practices 6a, dRMM, Dow Jones, Roz Barr Architects, ScanLAB Projects and Stanton Williams spoke to a crowd of over two hundred people who had signed up for free tickets through Eventbrite leading up to the event. These presentations were followed by a round table discussion before the evening closed with a drinks reception. Leading up to the evening talks, there were a series of free guided tours at the Building Centre. The Architectural Association's Design Research Lab (AADRL) guided visitors through the exhibition Digital Turn: AADRL. The show featured a collection of models presenting the lab's experimental approach to design and fabrication within architecture and urbanism. Pipers Model Makers also spoke about the interactive New London Model in the NLA gallery, offering an insight into the making of the model and its use in the context of city planning.
323 tickets booked (overbooked; capacity 200 places) with 452 views of the event page.
• Included in December newsletter which was sent to 19000 recipients and two e-shots, each sent to 3878 recipients.
• Facebook event reached 4k individuals
• Instagram post reached 1,053 individuals
• Three tweets earned 5,641 impressions
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Public Lectures on Architectural Models given by Simona Valeriani 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact European Society for the History of Science conference, London, 14-17 September 2018, Session "Material Culture, Discipline Formation and Education in Engineering", "Paper Models as experiments? Methodological (dis)unity between engineering and architecture in the 19th century."
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Public Lectures on Architectural Models given by Simona Valeriani 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact "Architectural Models in Context", Keynote talk, LAHP Cohort Development evening event at Soane Museum, 12 February 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Public Lectures on Architectural Models given by Simona Valeriani 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Third annual conference of the International Society for Model Research, Berlin, 7 December 2019. Invited paper "Architectural Models in Context: Creativity, Skills and Spectacle", presenting the intellectual scope, activities, and rationale of the Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Public lectures given by Mark Morris 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • Mark Morris, "The Myrioramic Models of Zaha Hadid," workshop, Architectural Association, London, October 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Public lectures given by Mark Morris 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact • Mark Morris, "Models: Sketch versus Sign" and "Models: Size versus Scale," lectures, Architectural Association, London, November 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Public lectures given by Matthew Wells 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Our research partner Matthew Wells has given a number of public lectures showcasing his research which has grown out of the Architectural Models Research Network and his doctoral research, funded by an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the RCA and the V&A:
• Matthew Wells, 'Models as legal actors', paper given at 'Art and Law: Objects and Spaces as Legal Actors', AAH Annual Conference, Courtauld Institute of Art, 6 April 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2018
 
Description Public lectures given by Matthew Wells 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Our research partner Matthew Wells has given a number of public lectures showcasing his research which has grown out of the Architectural Models Research Network and his doctoral research, funded by an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the RCA and the V&A:
• Matthew Wells, 'Utopia, instrument, and tool: A thematic history of the architectural model', University of Liverpool, 19 February 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019
 
Description Public lectures given by Matthew Wells 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Our research partner Matthew Wells has given a number of public lectures showcasing his research which has grown out of the Architectural Models Research Network and his doctoral research, funded by an AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the RCA and the V&A:
• Matthew Wells, 'The Victorian Architectural Model', Victorian Society, London, 19 November 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Research Network Webpage on the Victoria and Albert Museum website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Architectural Models Network has recently set up its own webpage as part of the Victoria and Albert Museum website. The primary purpose of this webpage is to generate awareness of and engagement with our new research network among academics, students, professional practitioners and the general public. Another central purpose of the webpage is to stimulate greater public interest in architectural models. The webpage lists and profiles our network partners directing traffic to our research member's profiles and their institutional websites and archives. In this way it directs traffic to the main digital archives for materials related to architectural models. We hope to showcase some of the 3D content that we are creating as an output of our research network. This webpage is a pilot project to demonstrate the need for a larger independent website in the future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/architectural-models-in-context
 
Description Second Architectural Models Network Workshop in Munich 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The Architectural Models Network held its second workshop at the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München, one of our core Network Partners, on October 25-26, 2018. The workshop comprised a series of papers by experts in the conservation and curation of architectural models, as well as talks by architects and academics specialising in the history of architectural models. We also visited the architectural practice Studio Krucker Bates, the model collections at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, the model-making workshop at the Deutsches Museum, and spent an evening at Lothar Schacke's privately-owned cork model collection with contemporary cork model-maker Dieter Collen. On Day 2 we visited the Abgusssammlung in the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte. Network Partner meetings were also held on both days in order to progress the activities and outputs of the Network.
Through hosting our second network workshop, our Network Partner the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität München was able to establish several new connections with local museums in Munich. These institutions hosted the Network during the workshop and facilitated access to their important collections. The V&A and the other British Network partners had an opportunity to forge international contacts and widen their professional connections while the Architekturmuseum is now more immediately looking forward to further collaborations related to their shared interests in architectural models.

The contact with the Deutsches Museum was interesting in terms of reflecting the role played by models in contemporary museum practice and museum pedagogy. The Deutsches Museum has a long tradition of producing models and dioramas for didactic purposes and still has two workshop which continue making models for the galleries. Interesting conversations were had with colleagues about these practices.

The Abgusssammlung is a great collection of casts and some architectural models collected for teaching purposes by Munich University. In part still used today, this constitutes an interesting parallel to collections of some of the Network partners such as the V&A and the Soane's museum.

The Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt is -together with the Architekturmuseum in Munich- one of the most important German repositories of architectural models and a very vibrant research and exhibition venue. Oliver Elser (curator) gave a very thought provoking paper at the Munich workshop, entitled 'Good, bad and ugly models'. He was the curator of the exhibition 'The Architecture Model: Tools, Fetish, Small Utopia' (25. Mai 2012 - 16. September 2012), and of large model installation 'The 387 Houses of Peter Fritz' at the Venice Art Biennale (2013), he is guest professor at a number of academic institutions. This is therefore a very interesting contact to have made, which could lead to further co-operations. We envisage that Oliver Elser will write one of the entries for the forthcoming Architectural models Network publication 'An A-Z of Architectural Models'.

Another interesting connection that could be made through the Munich workshop was with Georg Vrachliotis, dean, Professor for the Theory of Architecture and head of the Archive for Architecture and Engineering sciences at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He gave a paper on Frei Otto's models, reflecting on the experience of curating the exhibition 'Frei Otto, Thinking in Models' (KIT 2016) and his research on the role played by Models in Frei Otto's practice leading up to and following the show.

The program of the workshop can be found here: https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2018/11/01/16/07/44/ab2a429c-ed60-45b0-8efe-cdc9f79d3e67/program-model%20workshop-MUC-FINAL%20(3).pdf
A short video presenting some of the high-lights of the workshop can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siaEzdcelWI
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siaEzdcelWI
 
Description Social Media Platforms: Twitter and Instagram 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The research network has now set up both Twitter and Instagram accounts to generate public interest in and engagement with architectural models. The network has been posting a fresh stream of visual content and directing audiences to our blog and webpage.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://twitter.com/ArchModelsNet
 
Description Third Architectural Models Network Workshop in Paris 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The third and final workshop of the Architectural Models Network was hosted by the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne), one of our core Network Partners, at the Institut national d'histoire de l'art in Paris on February 6-7, 2019. The first morning comprised a series of papers by experts in digital model-making and cultural heritage from our Network Partner UMR MAP. In the afternoon, we visited the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimonie where we were shown around their significant model collections by curator Corinne Bélier and attended the new major exhibition there on the Art of the Building Site. The morning of Day 2 comprised a series of papers by leading academics and experts in their fields, followed by a visit in the afternoon to the collections and archives of the Musée des plans-reliefs, where we received a tour from curator Isabelle Warmoes. Extended Network Partner meetings were held on both days of the research workshop in order to consolidate the outputs of the Network and to plan for future activity.

As the host of our third network workshop, our Network Partner HISTARA (Sorbonne University) enabled Network partners to establish several new connections with local museums and academic institutions in Paris and beyond. These institutions hosted the Network during the workshop and facilitated access to their important collections.

Corinne Belier (CAPA), led the Network partners' visit to the very extensive collection of models held by the Cite de l'architecture et du Patrimoine, which spans three centuries and has its origin in 19th century collecting of casts and models. The latter constitutes a parallel to the collections of some Network partners such as the V&A and the Soane's museum, although it stands out for its size and scope. Mutual interests and strategies for the study, care and public enjoyment of such collections were discussed.

Christopher Niedziocha (Centre des monuments nationaux) offered an insight into 18th century design practices relying on the use of models, presenting the case study of the church of Sainte-Geneviève -Pantehon. It was also a good opportunity to discuss with him activities run by the Centre des monuments nationaux around architectural models and to build up a connection with this French institution.

Through presentations and guided tours given by colleagues such as Valentina de Santi (Archivio del Moderno/Universita' della Svizzera Italiana) and Isabelle Warmoes (Musée des Plans reliefs) the network was able to reflect further on architectural models on a city scale. This is a theme we had already encountered in Munich but was deepened significantly in Paris. Valentina de Santi reflected in her paper on the methods and sources used for the production of the military model of the siege of Rome (1848-1852) and offered some food for thoughts about the documentary value of such artefacts on a number of levels.

Isabelle Warmoes offered the network partners a guided tour of the Musée des Plan reliefs, including an in depth analysis of the techniques used for the fabrication of the models over three centuries and an introduction to the incredibly rich archive, which holds historical information in different media (drawings, sketches, maps, written reports etc.), on the models.

Valerie Nègre (University Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Olivier Delarozière (Conservatoire national des arts et métiers) presented a very interesting paper on the models held by this institution and their historical/contemporary significance. It was a great opportunity to develop working relationships and to gain a good overview of specialists from different disciplines and nationality working in the field, some of whom we have invited to contribute the Network's forthcoming publication 'An A-Z to Architectural Models'.

The program of the workshop can be found here: https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/02/06/15/46/42/d5fe1425-09be-45ec-8140-53db679d399d/Maquettes%20Programme%20web.pdf
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/02/06/15/46/42/d5fe1425-09be-45ec-8140-53db679...
 
Description Twitter account 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Even after the formal end of the network as a funded entity, we have kept our twitter and instagram accounts active and have seen an increase in followers. They have now risen to 214 onTwitter, to be found @archmodelsnet.

The followers of our account keep growing. In march 2023 they are 418, and our tweets reach a much wider audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.instagram.com/archmodelsnet/
 
Description Twitter and Instagram accounts 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Even after the formal end of the network as a funded entity, we have kept our twitter and instagram accounts active and ave seen an increase in followers. They have now risen to 785 on Instagram and 214 onTwitter, both to be found @archmodelsnet.

The followers of our accounts keep growing: 1218 on instagram and 418 on twitter.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description V&A Display 'Building the Royal Albert Hall', guided visits with focus on architectural models 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Following the award of the Research network's grant, having been seconded one day a week to Architectural Models Network related activities, the principal investigator, Simona Valeriani, was able to organise a number of visits to the display 'Building the Royal Albert Hall' (May 2017-Jan 2018, V&A) curated by Simona Valeriani and Olivia Horsfall Turner. The talks, conducted while looking at the display with the attending public, revolved around the use of architectural models in the design process in history, with a particular focus on the 19th c. Visiting groups included: -Royal Albert Hall's friends and patrons (https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2018/building-the-royal-albert-hall/) -Royal Albert Hall employees -MA students (V&A/RCA history of Design) -General Public (also Part of London Design Festival: http://londondesignfestival.com/events/building-royal-albert-hall).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/d9zqPakZ/building-the-royal-albert-hall
 
Description Workshop Series: Virtual Models and Scientific Value. Historical Studies and Virtual Models in the Age of Digital Humanities 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Our network partner HISTARA, 7347 (Histoire de l'Art, des Representations, de l'État et du Pouvoir dans l'Europe Modern et Contemporaine), a unit of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne), has been involved in organising a series of workshops entitled Virtual models and scientific value. Historical Studies and virtual models in the Age of digital humanities (Organised by Hermann Schlimme and Sabine Frommel). One of the workshops in this series was hosted at the Technische Universität Berlin, 7-8 November 2018. The next workshop in the series will be hosted in June in Vienna on 3D reconstruction in the history of architecture.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019