Are You A Model? (On an Architectural Medium of Spatial Exploration)

This book considers architectural models not as stable objects but as a question: What is a model, really? And where in the design process does it assume its powers or perform its tasks? Thirty essays respond to nine pointed questions, discovering surprising affinities and interweaving observations from diverse disciplinary, geographical, and scholarly perspectives, all framed by an introductory essay and a dialog between historian Annabel Wharton and artist Thomas Demand. Are You a Model? approaches models as phenomena and architectural tools without seeking to determine conclusive answers. Compiled by a group of architectural and art historians, historians of science, software engineers, architects, and curators, it views models as an epistemologically diverse practice rather than objects sorted by periods, genres, or materials.

With contributions by Giulia Amoresano, Yana Boeva, Giulia Boller, Stefanie Brünenberg, Alberto Calderoni, Daniel Cardoso Llach, Wonseok Chae, Diana Cristobal Olave, Carlotta Darò, Cansu Degirmencioglu, Kai Drewes, Ruth Ezra, Jia Yi Gu, Erik Herrmann, Carolin Höfler, Deniz Avci Hosanli, Christian Janecke, Sebastian Loosen, John McMorrough, Christina Moushoul, Ana Carolina Pellegrini, Eliza Pertigkiozoglou, Andreas Pilot, Stéphanie Quantin-Biancalani, Salome Schepers, Ecaterina Stefanescu, Simona Valeriani, Mara Trübenbach, Annabel Wharton, Matthew Wells, Baris Wenzel, Holger Zaunstöck, Maxime Zaugg, and Tamar Zinguer.