Retrofitting Architecture Models
Educational | 2024 - ongoing
Each academic year, architecture students produce numerous large-scale models of their projects, which often go to waste after the end-of-year exhibition. In the summer of 2024, Cambridge students from Studio 3.4 and students from across the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture donated their models to be reused and adapted by students from Open City’s Accelerate programme.
Retrofitting, the process of adapting existing buildings for different or multiple future uses to extend their lifespan, rather than tearing them down, is central to this initiative. The brief for retrofitting, recycling, and transforming these models was developed by Cambridge students in collaboration with AA Material Arcade, a student-led initiative that encourages the exchange and reuse of materials, objects, and tools within the AA School. This workshop has helped us think through how we can reuse materials and adapt our models, and eventually our buildings, in response to the climate crisis.
The workshop took place at the AA on Friday, 9 August. Accelerate students and alumni were invited to participate, exploring ideas of retrofitting and reuse. Students developed model-making skills by taking apart existing models, learning how they were originally made, and reimagining what to keep, what to remove, and how to reassemble the materials in new and unexpected ways. Working with these models allowed students to engage with questions of scale, material reuse, and architectural detailing. They learned an approach to working with existing buildings, gaining a better understanding of the impact that small alterations, such as repositioning a door, to more significant and large-scale changes can have on the spaces we inhabit.
Educational
Collaboration between Accelerate Open City, the Architectural Association School of Architecture, and third-year students from the 3.4 Design Studio at the University of Cambridge.
The workshop was organised and led by Anna Chantarasak, Evan Hall, James Hollingsworth, Peter Bergman, Siraaj Mitha, Elena Palacios Carral, and Isabella Synek Herd. Special thanks to the Accelerate students and alumni who participated in the workshop, as well as to the Cambridge and AA students who donated their work.