Curated Abstraction: the Design and Construction of the Ragon Institute Exhibition Model

Project: Ragon Institute Exhibition Model

Completed: 2025

Materials: MDF, veneer (assorted), PLA, PA12, acrylic, HDU, aluminum, bass wood, steel

Contributors: Daniel Dudziak, Sophie McKenzie, Emily Chowdhury, Sandrine Heroux, Parke MacDowell, Campbell Brod, Ashish Kolli, Cristian Bas, Sam Landay, Dorsa Naimi, Preston Branton, Ragon Institute Project Team  

Architectural Fabrication is integral to our design process at PAYETTE, allowing us to explore concepts in a real-world setting. It also helps produce a physical tool for communicating ideas and inviting design agency, both internally and with clients. But it has an additional purpose in that it allows us to archive our work in a lasting and beautiful manner. When someone enters our studio, they are immediately greeted by a row of intricately crafted design artifacts, abstractions of our work that capture the imagination, inspire curiosity, ad communicate our priorities of attention to detail and rigorous design. Now completed, our latest addition to this collection, the Ragon Institute Exhibition Model, joins the rest of its family.

At PAYETTE, we build models for a variety of specific purposes: campus and site planning to understand context, full-scale mock-ups to examine how an element or a space will feel in its final form, detail models to engineer how specific components will come together, custom pieces that preform a function in our final buildings, and exhibition pieces that represent a holistic vision of project with our highest level of craft. Our existing family of exhibition models span the breadth of our project typologies and seek to provide a detailed, though far from exhaustive, representation of projects which illustrate our design and conceptual priorities. Each of these models employ a comparable foundational approach for fabrication, including digital 3D modeling, laser cutting, CNC-milling, and wood working techniques using traditional tools.

The model aims to communicate the formal strategies of the whole building, show the spatial relationships and details of the designed landscape, and pay homage to the many stories and decisions that informed the final design. From its inception, the model wanted to be two things: big and beautiful. Unlike our other exhibition models, which manifested either in section or at smaller scales, this is a 1/8″ full-building model, measuring more than 4ft long and weighing well over 100lbs, encompassing the complete parcel of land in Kendall Squares and resting on a custom blackened steel table which was designed and fabricated in-house. The scale and detail of the model presented two notable challenges: structural, how was the building going to stand and support its own weight? and designed, how can the essence of the as-built design concepts be captured and refined to tell the intended story through different materials?

Structure

While minimalist in appearance, what is not as obvious in the final result is the extensive experimentation throughout the design process, including strategy over modeling methods, discussions on how to capture the design intent of the building, and many iterative attempts which informed entirely new material use and design considerations. Before any final physical making was undertaken, the project existed as a virtual Rhino model, which itself was distilled from Revit files provided by the project team and which were being actively used in the construction of the actual building.

The base and landscape, a 4 inch thick block of high density foam chosen for its dimensional stability, was precision milled on our CNC router. Each building floorplate was initially cut from high density foam that was veneered on both sides. However, due to excessive sagging and deformation during test fitting, these floor plates had to be scrapped in favor of veneered MDF. To accommodate flexibility during final assembly, as well as maintain quality control and precision, it was necessary to embed the interior partitions on the floorplates from the ceiling side, meaning that the delicate bass wood used would be spared vertical loading from any of the floorplates above, markedly mitigating bending and deformation.

The weight of the MDF floor plates presented another challenge: how would they be assembled vertically? They could not be built from the ground up, as this would be prohibitive if future design changes or repairs had to take place. Additionally, while the floorplates were intended to limit deformation by orienting the opposing veneer grains orthogonally, it was inevitable that some deformation would present itself due to the unpredictable expansion and compression properties of wood. The solution to these problems was to integrate four 3-dimensional cores located across the floor plates. These cores served to facilitate vertical alignment when stacked, supported the loading of the floors, and acted as compression elements.  Threaded rods run through each of the cores and terminate in the roof. By tightening wing nuts on either end of the rods, the whole model was squeezed together and compressed, which significantly assisted with floor plate deformation and increased the overall structural integrity.

However, even with this solution, distortion of the floor plates was still noticeable on the cantilevered edges of the building where vertical dimensions were inconsistent. The dowels representing columns along those edges penetrate each floorplate of the building. After manually spacing out the floor plates and removing the dimensional irregularities, we fixed them in place by driving nails through the edge of the floor plates, bisecting the dowels and holding them in precise alignment.

The sculpted roof capping the model presented its unique host of challenges. This doubly-curved element was flip milled on our cnc router from high density foam for weight-saving and tolerance considerations. However, after it was veneered in our vacuum bag, the shrinkage of the wood fibers in the veneer began exerting force on the piece, causing listing and deformation at the extremities. This effect could pose serious problems years down the line, as extreme as ripping the roof completely off of the floorplate below. This tension was relieved by scoring the veneer orthogonal to the grain. To attach the roof to the rest of the model, 2″ pockets were drilled into it and washers were inserted where the threaded rods terminated. When tightened, the whole model was brought into alignment. This mechanical connection further removed the possibility of failure caused by long-term expansion and contraction cycles that could be limiting for traditional adhesives. The scored and marked roof sections were all then covered by the roof garden veneered elements.

Design

Alongside the structural implications and associated myriad of iterative solutions, consideration of design and vernacular for the model was a persistent topic of discussion. The journey of abstraction for the exhibition model is a story of many unique design choices, some informed by existing architectural icons, some the product of the fusion of performance and design, and still others inspired by our own past work.

We paid special attention to detail when finishing all aspects of the model, meticulously sanding veneer to fit the many unique conditions all the way down to the curb cuts on the sidewalks and the 3D printed stones embedded in the landscape. The integrated scale figures further serve to further highlight the human elements of the architecture and fundamental purpose of good design. 

Level 1: Stone Facade

The unique stone cladding on the Level 1 façade is the result of many careful design considerations from multiple parties. Inspired by Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Baths House in Switzerland, the project team initially specified a long format brick developed with Zumthor and which mimicked the visual properties of Vals Quartzite, the stone which clads Zumthor’s iconic project. While the use of handmade bricks for the façade pleased the city as it referenced iconic Cambridge masonry architecture, the client desired a more refined material. The final product installed on the building is the actual Vals Quartzite stone, quarried in Switzerland, which was cut to units of long format bricks and assembled similar to traditional masonry construction. This solution satisfied the needs of the various parties and produced a striking and iconic cladding vernacular. The unique characteristics of the stone, streaking with rich contrasting veins and grain, necessitated special consideration when abstracted to the scale of a 1/8” model. The selected walnut veneer pays homage to the characteristics of the Quartzite, and the subtle laser etching invokes the distinctive course patterns produced in the final design.

Fins

The final model aimed to effectively communicate the design logic exhibited in the variations and rhythm of the sizing and spacing of the sun shading façade fins, which were engineered to respond to daylighting and interior program requirements. Perhaps the most recognizable component of the Ragon Institute, they required careful attention to detail to ensure that the form, three dimensionality, and shading characteristics, would translate when executed at a 1/8” scale. The façade contains 190 unique fins, each having to be modeled in 3D based on project Revit files, and then altered to integrate a fastening system to attach to the acrylic glazing via notches. These notches, through iterative trials, included enough tolerance and thus flexibility to accommodate the as-built conditions.

It was determined that 3D printed nylon would be the most successful in accurately capturing the complexity and detail of the fins, as well as have the necessary flexibility to enable minor alterations during the final installation. This was the result of many iterations of fin design extensively examining material options, methods of fabrication, level of abstraction, and system of installation on the model. Outsourced to the Netherlands for printing, the final fins had to be catalogued, inspected, and individually labeled.

The spacing was controlled by the notches in the laser cut acrylic “glazing”. The acrylic backing is composed of 1/16″ thick acrylic (flat facades) and incorporates sections of 1/32″ acrylic (radii facades). Great care was taken to ensure seamless transitions between acrylic panels and limit deformation. After the acrylic was installed with finished nails to the model, the fins were attached with superglue, taking extreme care to avoid smearing on the clear backing.

Perforation 

Perforations define another design characteristic of the Level 1 façade of the building, most noticeable on the playground fence and the garage and loading dock doors. The Fabrication group played a critical role in the project design, calling upon its existing history of designing similar perforated patterns such as the EXP ceilings or the Klarman accent walls.

Variable patterning of the perforated façade communicates a fun and playful dance on the tactile surface, contrasting the smooth staccato from the fins above. Not exclusively for design aesthetics either, the perforations serve a practical function in that they disguise noticeable seams, sublimating the panel gaps and additional components of assembly.  Redwood veneer was chosen to preserve the visual essence and compliment the walnut “stone” and white fins, much like the Corten and aluminum do for their real-world counterparts.

Real project construction documents were utilized in creating the laser cut files for the perforations. which were blown up in scale to better translate at the size of the model. While a dense perforation pattern was appropriate for the garage walls, it was less so for the fence which surrounds the day care playground on the exterior.

For this component, two layers of veneer were cut and glued together during the bending process in one long piece, spliced from multiple smaller segments. To ensure alignment of the holes, the veneer thickness had to be considered, particularly the difference of circumference between the inside and outside veneers.  Sections at concave and convex bends were scaled one dimensionally horizontally so that when bent and glued, the holes on both sides would align. The final form of the fence was accomplished with steam bending techniques to avoid breaking the veneer around the corners and to effectively capture the unique curving geometry.  

Conclusion

Akin to our ever-growing collection of fabricated design artifacts, which float and live in all corners of our office, this permanent addition to our studio might catch the eye of those passing by, invoking curiosity and communicating the power of rigorous and beautiful design.  It makes a statement that we care about design enough that we are willing to invest our own time and resources into making a notable and accessible object through which to express and share it. As an object, it serves as a tool that can express our attention to detail, priority for designing spaces for human interaction, and the beauty found where humane design and high-level performance intersect.

Mirroring our growth as a firm and the fabrication group specifically, the journey from our first exhibition models for the Hengquin Innovation Center and ISEC to today exemplifies how our skills and abilities have developed and evolved in the pursuit of executing the highest quality of work. This model pushed the limits of what we have been able to do in the past. It meant drawing on our years of existing expertise, improving upon our previous work, and enthusiastically experimenting with new techniques, including vacuum bag adhesion, 3D printing, steam bending, and executing tight bends with acrylic pieces. It drove us to push boundaries to produce a highly detailed, thoughtfully studied and precisely crafted object, much like the building it represents.