The model and its operative significance in architecture: objects driving evolution in design research

This paper draws upon the distinction between aesthetic and operative characteristics of models set for exploration in scientific and architectural research. Specifically, it weaves a link between Cache's concept of Objectile and architectural models appointed for studying design's inner logic also in reference to models describing biological functions. The outcome of this synergy is models that respond dynamically to variable data inputs and designated tasks. However, even when models are primarily applied as highly intellectual devices rather than ones being merely visual, still they cannot be detached from the formal idioms data is presented, compared and implemented with, set in reference to the graphic languages and the communication means by which content of any kind enters the architectural scene. As a response to this apparent incongruity, this paper delves into the operational role of models in the architectural making seen not as aesthetic objects, but rather as testimonial instances of a dynamic system in a continuum of recursive exploration and testing, further prompting to understand design as an experimental process undergoing phases of evolution, and so evincing architecture's profound affinities with science.