House model with lift-off floors

Because of the complex layout of this luxury villa the developer felt he needed a realistically detailed marketing model to allow potential buyers to fully appreciate the intricacies and subtleties of the architecture, especially as it was situated on a steeply sloping site. As well as giving it a realistic external appearance we also had to build the model in removable layers so that the split level internal room layout could be demonstrated as well. You can see this in one of the images. Although there is no internal colour or detail we did includ some simplified furniture and fittings to give the rooms an instant identity and a clear sense of space.

GlaxosmithKline Factory Model - Scale 1:75

The brief for this model was to create a 3D internal view of this GSK production plant which produces Penicillin for the pharmaceutical industry. The company frequently show visitors around the facility and felt they needed a simple visual illustration of the complex internal layout of the building. Our solution was to create this stylized 3D representation of the plant with the building floor plates in clear acrylic so that the viewer could appreciate, at a glance, the vertical and horizontal layout of all the major industrial components involved in the process. At 1:75 scale, the model is just over 2.4 metres long so it can be easily viewed by a group of people, making it an ideal starting point for a tour of the building.

Creating the model involved deciphering and rationalizing a huge volume of technical drawings so that we could design a pared down representation of the main production equipment. A crucial part of this process was keeping an ongoing dialogue with the client to make sure we were interpreting the information correctly. The client was extremely pleased with the final result and has in fact commissioned “Phase 2” of the project which involves adding further levels of detail plus some of the external plant and storage vessels that weren’t required for the original model. They have also indicated that they will require further similar models of other buildings plus an overall site model of the whole facility. So all in all, we’re looking forward to building a healthy relationship with GSK!

Mobile Exhibition Venue – Scale 1:75

With the aim of marketing his mobile exhibition venues abroad, the client needed a compact model he could take on the plane rather than entrusting it to the baggage handlers of the world’s airports. This was our solution. From an initial concept sketch, we designed and built the model in just 6 working days, incorporating removable roofs, interchangeable floor layouts and a Perspex cover. The whole thing measured just 350 x 290mm and fitted into a small padded suitcase that complied with on-flight hand luggage restrictions.

1:75 Seaside Apartment Tower

This dramatic model of a 14-storey apartment tower featured general illumination plus individual illumination of specific plots at the touch of a button. At 1:75 scale we were able to show a high level of detail.

Interactive model to illustrate best water management.

This interactive model was commissioned by the NFU as a visual demonstration to farmers of good water management practices on their land. The model shows two different catchments, one illustrating a high risk landscape with poor farming practices and the other showing a low risk landscape where the delivery of good practice minimises risks. The buttons on the front of the model activate LEDs set in the landscape to highlight different aspects of land management practice. The brightly coloured area shows an example of a Scimap, a graphic plan that shows farmers the risk areas across their land.

Cardiff city model relocated to Cardiff Castle.

We’ve just moved our 6.5m x 5.5m model of Cardiff city into the visitor centre at Cardiff Castle, an exciting new venue where it will become part of the organised castle tour. The model is fully interactive with a touch screen interface that provides onscreen information whilst lighting up the relevant building or area on the model. If you click on the left inset pic above you should be able to spot (despite the rain) the profile of the castle’s twelve-sided Norman Keep, one of the finest examples in Wales.

Educational puzzle made from 5mm coloured acrylic.

Alongside our core work we like to fit in one-off unusual projects like these laser cut educational puzzles for the Neuroscience department at Cardiff University. The puzzles, a simplified representation of DNA, were designed as a rough sketch by the client which we then drew up accurately in CAD for final approval by the university. The initial order was for a set of four but with an expectation of additional units at a later date. We’ve produced similar puzzles for the university before (see Laser-cut Brain Puzzle - Recent Projects, March 2017) and actually used the leftover coloured acrylic for this project.

Large sales model at 1:250 scale. 

At 2.7 metres long by 2 metres wide this is one of the largest, housing sales models we’ve ever made. The project started off as a phase 1 model only but then the client decided they wanted to market phase 2 and 3 at the same time so asked us if we could model the whole site in one go. With just under 500 units on a complex sloping site this became a 3 month project and we just managed to meet the launch day deadline. For portability and ease of working, the landform is in 4 sections that butt together on a purpose built plinth. The Perspex cover however, was a one piece unit and we had to take a large window out just to get it into the sales office. We’ve got two other models on the go for the same client but thankfully they’re both more manageable sizes.

Two industrial models showing internal components.

SSE, one of the UK’s biggest energy suppliers commissioned us to help create these two demonstration models for use in their educational program in schools. After exploring several different designs we advised them which options were practical to build and also achievable within their fixed budget. The models incorporate cut-away views showing simplified representations of the internal components of a wind turbine and transformer. The wind turbine model is actually designed as six sections that can be easily fitted together to demonstrate how wind turbines are constructed.