At Louisiana, there’s currently an exhibition called “Renzo Piano Building Workshop,” which features a bunch of his stunning wooden models. Here are some pictures I took of the models (I wish I had noted the names of the buildings):
I bought a copy of a book that is published as part of the exhibition, and I hope that it sheds some light on his process. But making models is clearly an important part of it.
It’s fascinating that for the biggest and most expensive buildings, there are competitions which architects enter with one or a few buildings, presented as models – preferably, I guess, as the goal is to convey the idea as effectively as possible to the client. This means that a substantial amount of the design process is carried out with the risk of not getting paid for it. I wonder to what extent the architect can defer work until having won the competition. Perhaps the submissions are seen merely as rough ideas (by both parties), and after the competition, the work begins to mold the idea into a form that can be agreed upon.