Models communicate with our emotions

How many times have you seen people crowding around a model of a development on a computer? I bet not many times, if any. However, how many times have you seen people casually strolling through a shopping mall, seeing the model of a development and get excited? It has very possibly even happened to you!

People are attracted to models in a way that they are attracted by few other marketing methods. If you do not believe me, try selling a car without showing the client an example of the car he/she intends to purchase.

People are attracted to architectural models because it involves them emotionally and intellectually more than just a one dimensional plan or even a 3-D graphic on a computer screen. People relate personally to the environment created on the model.

Even though people will tell you that they can think three dimensionally - the truth is that most people cannot. That is why people look at their proposed house plans in a totally different way when they see an actual 3-D model of the structure.

According to the classical view of marketing a seller need to create Attention, get the Interest of your prospective client, cause them to Desire your product and the Act. The size, the detail and the presentation of an architectural model will handle the first three stages, the seller only need to address the last one.

If a developer invests 1% to 5% of the projected cost of a proposed project on a model and saves rebuilding one wall or changing one crucial design factor, the cost will already be worth it. In fact, the investment on the model is often less than 1%.

You cannot afford to be caught without a model!

Ngwenya Housing, Brits

Sample housing units to demonstrate architectural guidelines for the scheme.

The model is used as a marketing aid to sell houses.

Scale 1 : 150 size 650mm x 750mm

Guide to approximate cost R40 000

Hotazel Town Planning

Mining is growing fast, and many mining towns are bursting at the seams. A proposal to expand Hotazel has been designed.

The model was built to test community reaction to the intended expansion and refine the development guidelines

The model is to a scale of 1 : 850 ; size 2,4m x 1.8m
Guide to approximate cost R 100 000

Housing scheme in Mauritius

The model for the development of 300 houses at St Pierre, Mauritius. The scheme includes A sports centre, retail and office space and retirement centre. Built on reclaimed sugar cane fields.

The model scale is 1 : 350 ; size 1 200 mm x 1850mm.

Guide to approximate cost R120 000.

So many buildings, so few days!

A thousand buildings in one hundred days! this is an achievement for any modelbuilding studio, especially when it spans the Christmas period.

Polliwood has had a busy year, doing work that has travelled in all directions. We built a model for a hotel in Ireland. ENL Group in Mauritius employed us to build their new housing development in Mauritius. We built the whole town of Hotazel (there really is such a place) for one of the largest mining companies in the world. BHP Billiton.

We built two models for a new develpoment in Brits for AngloSaxon Property Developers. One model is a landscape for the whole Ngwenya township. The other is of some of the housing units.