ABSTRACT
An architectural model may be defined as a representation of a building made to scale and recreating the appearance of its materials, style, structure, space and decoration. Mathematical correspondence between model and architecture is achieved through the use of scaled measurements, typically one-fiftieth for a small model and one-twentieth or one-tenth for a larger one. From this typical definition it may be argued that architectural models are merely small-scale ‘copies’ of full-scale ‘original’ buildings. This would make architectural models a case of mimesis, according to Michael Taussig’s definition:
the faculty to copy, imitate, make models, explore difference, yield into and become Other. The wonder of mimesis lies in the copy drawing on the character and power of the original, to the point whereby the representation may even assume that character and power.
