ellie sampson

Architectural Model Maker

“I knew the ‘hands-on’ quality of model making, the challenge of understanding a set of drawings in 2D and realising them in 3D and the discussion required with other designers meant this role was for me.”

Tell us a bit about your current job.

My name is Ellie and I’m a model maker. I work at Haworth Tompkins, an architecture practice in North London where I make architectural models and manage the workshop. In my spare time I produce papercut models and scenes for private commissions- these are mostly inspired by films, books, holidays, comics and occasionally cakes.

What and where did you study after school?

When I was 18 I did an art foundation course at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London. Then I studied architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, part of University College London. I did both my undergraduate and Masters of my architecture education here, but I have not done the ‘professional practice certificate’ where you qualify fully as a registered architect.

How did you get from answer 2 to answer 1?

I always knew I wanted to do something creative and rooted in art when I was growing up, I just didn’t know what form it would take for a long time! My mum is a textile designer and my dad is an architect which meant my sister and I were both encouraged to make, draw and paint a lot (anytime we weren’t happily huddled over a Gameboy.) It was during my art foundation that I started to get an inkling of which area of art and design I wanted to pursue. In every discipline I tried, from textiles to film, the tutor asked, unprompted, if I was going to study architecture. I hadn’t properly considered it until this point as I thought, like a lot of people, it would help to have qualifications in science or maths as well as art. I was very wrong – it was when I went to the Bartlett’s open day where there was a presentation of students making models of buildings that could be worn as hats that I thought: ‘This is the place for me!’ My course looked at architecture in a broader context. Tutors encouraged you to draw from theatre set design, film production design, graphic novels and computer games. I loved architecture but I also knew I was equally driven to explore lots of other areas of design – I was greedy basically. But I think it’s ok to try and find a course, apprenticeship or any form of experience that encourages you to broaden your view of the discipline you want to become involved in. Realistically, I had to prioritise certain skills above others to work and earn money, but when I had time, it helped to keep other interests ticking along in my spare time. 

Both between my undergraduate and postgraduate architecture degrees and after, I worked as an architectural assistant at a couple of architecture practices (including Haworth Tompkins). I enjoyed many elements of the work and working as part of a team, but I often felt a disconnect between my understanding of a project and how I felt I was responding to a given task. I didn’t feel I was effectively utilising the specific skills I had drawn from my studies at the Bartlett. In my spare time I looked for ways to continue the sort of model making I had experimented with at university – making small models at night after work, sometimes for free, sometimes as small commissions for friends and family. I kept this up, posting pictures to Instagram and trying to use the platform as a mini online portfolio. Eventually, I approached my director with a more fleshed-out portfolio where I tried to showcase all of my model-making experience, as well as a powerpoint presentation showing research into model-making roles. I had noticed how lots of models were being made in-house whilst later-stage models were outsourced to professional model makers. I thought I could do both, working on and overseeing models required for all stages of a project. I looked into how a new role could change our in-house model making process as well as save the firm some money and organise how we ran the workshop. My directors and colleagues were very supportive of me undertaking this new role and allowing me to bring my skills wholeheartedly to the table!   

How does your formal education feed into your present career (if at all)?

Both my undergraduate and postgraduate course in architecture have fed directly into my present career, but I know that there are other routes to becoming a model maker – it could definitely appear to an outsider (as well as my mum) that I took a long way round. Doing a vocational course like architecture provides you with a varied skill set. I learnt how to use CAD (Computer-aided design) software, Adobe editing software (such as Photoshop), practical skills like how to use workshop equipment and I also gathered structural and theory-based architectural knowledge. I am very fortunate to have studied architecture which, due to the length, and therefore cost, of the course unfortunately doesn’t often feel like a discipline open to everyone – hopefully this will continue to change! This also meant I felt a sense of guilt when I deviated from the set course and decided not to continue and qualify as an architect: I had gone this far, why not keep going? I got a couple of people asking if I was ‘just’ going to make models now.  But I knew the ‘hands-on’ quality of model making, the challenge of understanding a set of drawings in 2D and realising them in 3D and the discussion required with other designers meant this role was for me. 

My art foundation taught me to take each stage of my education and draw what I could out of it. I wanted to use all the resources I had at my disposal whether it be a tutor’s advice or a free film screening on a Wednesday morning. Being at the Bartlett was challenging, but very rewarding. I felt the tutors gave me the confidence to be as inventive and resourceful as possible when interrogating the built environment. Not every architecture school lets you play around with animation, stitch together fabric installations or make models of buildings you can wear, and if they don’t maybe you could just do it anyway?! I think the encouragement to experiment with varied methods of making at university helps me trust my design instincts at work. 

What things have you learnt outside of formal education that have been helpful to your career?

Although my formal education introduced me to lots of model-making methods, from casting to 3D printing, organising commissions outside of work is what pushed me to approach my director about a new role. Before I made models and paper-cuts I put together comics, travelogues and prints and tried selling them online. I was inspired by friends who were trying to put things they produced out there: such as my school friends Alice Skinner, who is an incredible illustrator, and Annie Muir, who writes poetry and collates it in mini pamphlets. I saw my own projects as hobbies more than work because I loved documenting any holiday I went on or doing illustrations as gifts for friends and family. 

Putting these plans into action showed me the sense of satisfaction when trying to be proactive with a personal project. It often didn’t lead to anything, I applied for lots of illustration fairs that rejected me, but I’m glad I didn’t become self-conscious after that and let it ruin the fun. When I started posting pictures of my models on Instagram and saw people enjoyed them and wanted to chat about them, it spurred me on to make more and ultimately change the course of my career. 

What are the really useful skills for someone in your job to possess?

It’s obvious and applies to almost any job, but with model making you have to be prepared to multitask and work efficiently to a deadline. You can often juggle a couple of different projects, representing different buildings at different scales using different materials, so it helps to keep calm under pressure and stay organised (which makes me sound like a surgeon, which I am aware I’m definitely not!). 

It is key to communicate effectively with your colleagues. You need to listen to what they need the model to showcase within their design or convey to their client, as well as present your own ideas and advice. You are constantly drawing from and building on your knowledge of making previous models so it helps to offer up what you learnt from past experiences and do this clearly and concisely. 

Then you have to have practical making skills! Model makers will probably feel particularly capable when using certain materials (wood, card, foam, paper, 3D printed elements) but you’ll need a broad understanding of lots of processes and experience using workshop equipment. For example, in our workshop we have a pillar drill, bandsaw, disc sander, lasercutter, papercutter and 3D printer. I am more confident using certain pieces of equipment over others, but the more models I make the more practice I get using the machinery we have available. You also have to be accurate and neat when making architectural models; I have a steady hand (I’m still aware I’m not a surgeon, but with a scalpel and glue syringe in hand it can sometimes feel like it).  

What does an average day at work look like for you?

At Haworth Tompkins we make a mix of presentational models (for projects in their later stages where the design is more realised) and massing models where we are quickly testing design options. I predominantly work on the presentational models which are often detailed, especially as the designs frequently deal with fabric of existing buildings. It takes me some time to digest all of the drawn architectural information and visualise the space, this is the area I find most challenging. As an architect or architecture student you are used to working on a project for months or years and taking time to familiarise yourself with it until you know the design inside out. As a model maker you turn projects around quickly, in weeks or occasionally months. Incidentally, this was one of the reasons I was drawn to model making; I love the quick turnover, you get a sense of satisfaction and involvement in a project and then you can get involved in another (I have wondered if my attention span is ultimately too short for architecture). This shorter timeline means you have to understand the designs quickly and get going on discussions with the team and starting to plan the model. 

I plan the model in CAD initially, digitally modelling how the pieces fit and layer together. Then I use this digital model to source the correct amount of whatever material we are using. Then I start laser cutting, 3D-printing or piecing elements together by hand: whatever is required for that particular model. An average day will also bring management of the workshop. I carry out workshop inductions for people before they can use the equipment, to ensure everyone is working safely. Architectural assistants use the workshop too and can come to me for advice or to discuss models to be made. 

I work on my own personal commissions in the evenings and often at weekends too. The deadlines for these are mostly quite relaxed as I do this work part time. It can be tiring and sometimes I don’t feel like sitting down to more models after a workday, but with these papercut pieces I can gather ideas from films, TV, books and comics as well as architecture. Ultimately, I enjoy the intricate work and I find it really therapeutic to cut, fold and stick paper to create some sort of scene (especially with a dangerously nerdy audiobook most likely playing in the background)

What’s the best thing about your job?

The main goal of making models is representing something physically to make it easier to understand. I enjoy making something which is relatable and that encourages conversations about designs between people from all sorts of professions and backgrounds. Whether this be for a client to visualise an architectural design, for a team of architects and architectural assistants to understand their own designs or for people at a public consultation to imagine a completed scheme and relate it to their own surroundings. Models allow people to appreciate architecture more easily and taps into a collective understanding of our built environment (short of constructing an actual building of course). 

I also love the process of making things. Whether in architecture or for personal projects I enjoy realising something in 3D and the methodical process it takes to piece a model together from paper, card or wood.

Finally, I enjoy any opportunity to collaborate and discuss model-making methods with others. Unsurprisingly there is no one way to do something. When I’m not sure about a construction method, because a model is physically there and coming together piece by piece, people feel free to chip in and bat ideas about. This makes it a more collaborative process and means I’m learning things all the time.

What’s your least favourite aspect of your job?

When it comes to my own commissions, it is something that takes a lot of time and you have to be very focused. I enjoy this and I have actively chosen to undertake these projects in my spare time, but it can seem like self-imposed isolation sometimes. To keep things ticking over you have to sacrifice a lot of your free time, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Also I’m lucky that my boyfriend is an illustrator and similarly has to work long hours on his projects. 

As somebody working within architecture, it is a problem that jobs don’t feel as accessible as they could be. My least favourite thing about the profession as a whole is its lack of diversity. As I said before, I know I am very lucky to have had such a thorough education, an education which is essential to the profession. The length and cost of this education makes the architecture world often feel closed to many. Again, I know there are many routes into model-making, but the skills that I learnt at university and the opportunities I received have been indispensable to my shift into this career. Working with computer software, workshop equipment, understanding architectural drawings takes time and practice – both of which should be accessible to more people. 

What advice would you give to someone seeking a job like yours? 

Find any opportunity you can to gain some experience in a workshop. Whether it be a wood workshop at university, college or enquiring at a design practice. Being in a workshop can be intimidating at first when you don’t know what each machine does, but the more time you spend around and using the equipment the more confident you’ll feel. Also, in my experience, workshop technicians and makers of any kind almost always want to share their knowledge about equipment and tools – especially if you are enthusiastic. 

Be open to learning new model-making techniques. When you get proficient using a particular technique or used to a material it can be intimidating to try something new, but it pays off to try it. For example, at school I wanted to learn about clay sculpting and plaster casting, my teacher suggested visiting a shop called Tiranti, which sells casting and mould-making equipment. Everyone that works in the shop is also a practitioner making their own models and sculptures on the side. It was unnerving at first to ask questions, you don’t want to feel like your bothering anyone, but each person I approached shared advice and expertise and I still go there asking questions today. I could say the same about 4D models in Aldgate. Sometimes there is no particular shop to visit so you have to ask advice online. It wasn’t until my 4th year of architecture school that I was shown paper-cutting by a friend in the year above. After experimenting with her vinyl cutter I did my own research online, watching lots of Youtube videos and scouring through wonderfully nerdy message boards to find out more. 

Keep an eye out for scholarships and bursaries which provide financial support for model-making or architecture courses. My university offered some financial aid, the Royal Institute of British Architects does as well. It is worth it to take time to apply. Modelmaking doesn’t have to be an expensive discipline, you can be resourceful with how you find materials (for example, timber merchants often give out scraps of offcut wood) but as a student, it can definitely help to have some financial support if you want to experiment with a broad range of methods and materials. 

Finally, persevere and practice as much as you can. Making paper cuts takes a lot of trial and error, but be patient and set yourself challenges moving from simple to progressively more intricate forms.