The exhibition displays original design material from Associate Professor Lisa Moffitt’s new book, Architecture’s Model Environments, including photographs and model prototypes.

The show is organized thematically by book chapters and includes brief synopses of each chapter adjacent to corresponding images. It also includes videos of environmental models in operation, which are not in the book.

In addition, the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism will host a book launch and talk by Dr. Moffitt on Thursday, September 13 at 4 p.m. in The Pit.

Seen through the distilling lens of the architectural model, Architecture’s Model Environments (UCL Press, Design Research in Architecture series, 2023) is a far-reaching exploration of the many dialogues that buildings have with their environmental surroundings.

Expanding on histories of building technology and supported by 10 original model prototypes, the book sheds new light on how physical models, conventionally understood as engineering experimentation devices, enable architectural design speculation across scales — from the seam (that leaks) to the body (that feels) to the building (that mediates) to the world (that immerses).

The book’s final chapter includes a series of model studies by Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism students in Moffitt’s fourth-year Tank Worlds studios and Master of Architecture seminar, Miniaturizing the Gigantic, in 2021 and 2022.

The exhibition was supported through a SSHRC Knowledge Exchange grant.