Architectural models play a key role in architectural practice. They make ideas tangible, support the design process, and demonstrate how architecture takes shape through space, scale, and material. Through the project The Model's Future: Value-Driven Conservation of Architectural Model Collections in Flanders, the VAi is exploring how these valuable objects can be sustainably preserved, documented, and reproduced. The project also investigates the use of innovative techniques such as 3D scanning.
Architectural models are more than three-dimensional scale representations; they are compact spaces for thinking, where architectural and urban visions take shape. Architects use them throughout the design process, from initial exploratory studies to the final design. They help translate complex spatial concepts for a broader audience. In some cases, models are all that remain of buildings that have since disappeared from the streetscape or of projects that were never realised.
The Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) manages the largest collection of architectural models in Flanders. The collection comprises more than 845 models, the oldest dating back to 1928. Reflecting a century of architectural visions and ambitions, it constitutes an indispensable resource for research, education, and public engagement.
Architectural models are fragile objects that pose complex challenges for long-term preservation. They are often composite objects made from a wide range of materials, including wood, paper and cardboard, plastics, metal, glass, and sometimes organic materials such as moss. Since these materials age differently and require different conservation conditions, the preservation and conservation of architectural models is particularly complex.
Moreover, it is impossible to preserve every model ever created indefinitely in physical form. This compels heritage institutions to make difficult choices and to explore alternative ways of documenting these objects in order to safeguard their significance.
The Model's Future seeks to address these urgent challenges. The project responds to the need for a realistic and well-considered approach to the preservation, conservation, and documentation of architectural models. It aims not only to support the management of the VAi’s own collection, but also to provide guidance for other institutions and custodians of architectural models. By combining research and practice, the project examines the materials, connections, and production techniques used in model making, while also identifying common forms of damage and associated risks.
In addition, the project explores innovative ways of digitally recording and sustainably preserving architectural models. Technologies such as 3D scanning open up new possibilities for accurately documenting, studying, and providing access to these objects.
The project runs from 2026 to 2029 and is supported by the Department of Culture, Youth and Media of the Flemish Government. During this period, the VAi will actively promote knowledge exchange through study days and workshops. The project will result in a practical guide for collection managers, model makers, and conservators, offering support for decision-making regarding conservation, preservation, and documentation.
For this project, VAi can draw on the expertise of a diverse group of partners from the heritage and architecture sectors: