Sketch models can still be very attractive even if they still look a bit wild and unpolished. We thought you might use the time scheduled for this week to do them once more with some more attention and care and with your newest insights in mind.

Here are some general tips to improve the model quality without using advanced tools like laser cutters or 3D printers:

• Use standard elements to keep a consistency running through the model: building blocks, matchboxes, wooden sticks, sugar cubes, etc.
• Take some time to find and select the most appropriate and engaging materials. Preferably use abstract materials that can take on meaning from the way they are used in the model.
• Limit the amount of materials you use. Each material takes on its own role: for example, grey-board for constructive walls, brown corrugated cardboard for facades, coloured paper for very specific elements.
• Cut cardboard along a steel ruler – take care when doing so and never hold your hands in the line of your cutting force.
• Use a styrofoam base to stick columns into and to quickly adapt your plan.
• Mention each element while you make it: ‘this is a column, now let’s find some plates that I can use for the roof’. This helps to make very deliberate choices.
• Leave things for the imagination to decide, because making every detail costs a lot of time and can lead to the model becoming too defined at too early a stage.