These artifacts have flattened communications, giving clients, designers and sales team’s equal opportunity to contribute valuable insights that have direct impact on project outcomes."

Over the past decade digital modeling has cemented itself as the primary design tool for visualizing and understanding space. This technology has eclipsed the tradition of physical model making, which allows a tactile feel that the screen can never replicate.

Two years ago, we invested in a 3D printer to increase the quality and productivity of our physical model production. Design is an iterative process where during the course of a typical project we create numerous digital models, each increasing in detail. The 3D printer has provided us with a more powerful means to visualize this process. Our clients are now able to see and compare how small changes can affect the building as a whole and therefore provide more immediate feedback. This has not only accelerated certain elements of the design process but also informed the quality of our decision making, helping us to collectively discover the optimal solutions to the design challenges we are facing, whether it be site considerations, climate or typology.

Nowhere is the benefit of the 3D printer more evident than at meetings where the model is at the centre of discussion – our clients are able to handle, move around, spin and point to a physical object – creating a much more dynamic and interactive dialogue. In essences, these artifacts have flattened communications, giving clients, designers and sales team’s equal opportunity to contribute valuable insights that have direct impact on project outcomes.

Additionally, we have seen a marked increase in stakeholder participation as a result of using the 3D printed models and now include them as an integral component of our charrette, concept and schematic design processes.

Nariman is an Intern Architect and also helps coordinate Quadrangle’s rapid prototyping and model making processes.