Supermodels: A Brand-New Architectural Storytelling Concept Using Our 5 Senses

An exhibition artwork titled “Supermodels” by Piercy & Company will be displayed in London’s King’s Cross from now until Sunday, December 11. The show honors the craft of model construction by bringing architecture and various concepts to life through audio, smell, motion, and film.

©Piercy&Co studio

Supermodels are an innovative collection of designs capturing 20 years of design thinking at Piercy & Company about the significance of the sensual, sensory, and exploratory in architecture. The exhibition tests the limits of how the architectural model can engage audiences and convey concepts about buildings and the built environment through mechanical devices, projection, audio, lighting, and aroma. When taken as a whole, the supermodels show the breadth of Piercy&Company’s work, from significant real estate developments to unique family residences, cathedrals, and monuments.

Stuart Piercy, founding director of Piercy & Company, noted, “We’ve always been fascinated by mechanisms, such as cuckoo clocks, and how they could operate in models. The dream was that you could stand in front of the model, and it would give you the entire story about the building”.

©Piercy&Co studio

Seven models make up the exhibition, and each one of them showcases a variety of various materials. Plaster, black valchromat, birch plywood, aluminum, photo-etched copper, white laser-cut Perspex, and walnut veneers are among the materials used. However, the fusion of speakers, atomizers, LED screens, motors, and projection-mapped films creates more points of interest by evoking our five senses.

The First of “Supermodels”:

Steel House was the studio’s first Supermodel creation, based on a prototype movable steel house built off-site and lowered onto a confined urban site in Kew, London. The model divides into sections to explain the off-site manufacturing process. Still, it overlays the technical story with all the elements of “home”—the routines, rituals, warmth, and unique qualities of family life.

The “Steel House” model evokes the sensory architecture of “home” with the sounds of alarm clocks and children’s voices, the aroma of cinnamon, and the puff of chimney smoke. The model sets the standard for the rest of the Supermodel series by blending the technical and the humanistic touch.

©Piercy&Co studio

A model of two Georgian terraced villas in another location splits open like an overhanging metal box to showcase the members club housed inside the given criterion. Another model emphasizes the geometric features that underlie the structure of buildings, which is no longer visible nowadays in architectural drawings due to the use of digital technologies in place of traditional hand-drawn techniques.

When asked why there is frequent usage of limited photography throughout the exhibition, Piercy&Co officials illustrated that Flythrough displays this phenomenon by excluding anything outside the photographic frame—adding a small camera that rotates through the exhibition’s architectural model and reflects the matching view onto a wall nearby.

Lighting for the exhibition was designed by 18 Degrees, with lighting supplies provided by Reggiani. “We have seen some of the astounding models that Piercy&Co has created over the years firsthand, so the chance to light them in this major exhibition was too fantastic to pass up, as per 18 Degrees Director Paul Beale. “It has been a pleasure to be a part of this, and Reggiani, a producer of high-end lighting, deserves our gratitude for supporting the show.”

The “Supermodels” exhibition at a glance:

Supermodels are on display at Jahn Court, Regent Quarter, 34 York Way (entry of York Way), London, N1 9AB, from Friday, November 25, through Sunday, December 11, and is a seven-minute walk from King’s Cross Station. The entrance is free.