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Permalink Reply by Jenda Michl on June 1, 2009 at 1:10am

Absolutely!
Building a model forces you to study and really learn the building. This is especially true when it comes to one of our favorite reasons for digital models: buildings of complex form. The computer allows you to make nearly anything look good. Only seeing the form in reality washes the lipstick off the pig.
Additional points:
If you can't build it at a small scale, you can't build it.
What works in concept doesn't always work in reality.
Scale matters. A lot.

That said, I also admit that I don't necessarily prioritize making a physical model of everything myself. If I am working on something that I know well and am very familiar or experienced with, I will often not make the physical model. I do always make a digital model though.

It can be truly tempting to work only in the digital and forgo building a model. It can also be embarrassing. I've had a table fail - I only made one simple study model and stopped the exploration there. Oops.

Actually, I'm going to re-prioritize it in my own work now. Thanks!

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