We sketch concepts with paper and colored pencils, we make white digital renderings, and we build cardboard scaled models of project. Each method captures the spirt of a design that we use to test a design’s composition, proportions, structural systems, scale and details.
Our favorite technique is often making the physical model.
We paint our cardboard models white because this is how we think—first. Our clients often think in reverse…we like brick, we like hardwood floor, we want big windows, we like the color blue. However, we conceptualize a space first in white and then later we decide colors, textures, materials and finishes. Our models are high level views of the important features of a project. We think think spatially FIRST.
Making a “Stand-Four” cardboard model takes 2-3 days. We have time to think deeply about the design as we are cutting walls and details and gluing them together. We create the developed landscape and the site and scale those spaces too. We use a paper-Mache’ mixture to contour the site and create plantings with tiny, dried flowers, Styrofoam, and even toothpicks. Clear resin is poured into cavities for swimming pools and spas to appear like water. Why do we call our models “stand-four?” It’s because when looking at them from about four feet away they look really great!
