Monica Reading Response 003: Models, Prototypes, and Archetypes

Mark Burry’s essay on “Models, Prototypes, and Archetypes” explores the relationship of the model to the fast-growing field of digital technology and fabrication. He mentions “file-to-factory” as a term used by aeronautical designers to describe projects that are fabricated directly from their CAD files. This process is finding its way into architecture, and many predict that digital fabrication technologies will speed up the design process and cut out many steps between design and final form. However, Burry uses the example of the building of the Sagrada Familia Church to argue that these processes do not necessarily speed up design, but instead change it and its components.

                In order to understand Burry’s argument, it’s important to understand the distinction he makes between the terms “model”, “prototype”, and “archetype”. Models are representations to demonstrate form or construction, but can have varying degrees of similarity to the final object. Prototypes are like models, but are meant to be true to the final form, so that other parts can be built and modelled off of it. Archetypes are prototypes that define a new style or building concept, and can be used as the original prototype for many other projects.

                Digital fabrication allows for models to be made at scales and out of materials that are similar to the final object. The columns at Sagrada Familia were created as models in polystyrene using a CNC machine, but then used as prototypes for the real columns. Burry argued that these columns could also become archetypes, since other archetypes for the style used at Sagrada Familia do not exist.

This creation of unique parts is common to the way that digital fabrication is used in architecture. Although fabricated models can be used as prototypes and archetypes, many of them are unique to each project and cannot be used as archetypes for the future. Because of this, Burry points out that digital fabrication does not cut out the stages of design, but instead changes their form. In the case of the Sagrada Familia columns, the fabrication was a relatively simple task, but the creation of the complex geometry required a good deal of design using models, math, and programming. In other words, the design process is still very present, but takes a somewhat different form than before. Similarly, the model, the prototype, and the archetype are still present, but are used differently due to their changing design and fabrication methods.