Dialogues Between Physical and Digital Modelling Methods on Architectural Design

Abstract

As the current digitally-mediated architectural practice evolves, architectural models, regardless of their expressiveness or type, are a way to craft the interaction between the designer and the designed object. Models become artefacts that engage on a continuous interaction with the designer via different media, interpretation and knowledge retrieval schemes, organizational fl ows and tools. These interactions have recently been facilitated by the use of physical and digital production and analysis methods. In this report, we introduce a novel understanding of the relationships between physical and digital modelling techniques. We propose an updated framework that allocates these relationships into four categories: directed production, non-directed production, dual modelling, and mixed modelling. A review of different modelling classifications and frameworks is presented and exemplary case studies from the design domain are introduced for each category.