SkB Architects Exhibits at ‘Making Matters’ in Manchester UK
SkB Architect’s work is presented in Making Matters at Material Source, Manchester, extending a discourse first developed during the 2025 Venice Biennale.
The exhibition examines the role of physical modelmaking within contemporary architectural practice, particularly in relation to increasingly digital and AI-assisted workflows. For SkB Architects, models remain a critical design tool: a means of testing proportion, light, material, and spatial relationships through direct physical engagement rather than simulation alone.
Making Matters Exhibition. Photos by Oliver Webley
What
Making Matters Manchester, UK
Developed in collaboration with the Architects Index of Modelmaking (AiM), the European Cultural Centre, and the Manchester Society of Architects, the exhibition brings together practices that continue to use modelmaking as part of the design process.
AiM operates as an international archive and research platform focused on the role of models in architectural culture, education, and practice. The Manchester Society of Architects, established in 1865, has played an ongoing role in supporting architectural discourse and public engagement across the city, the UK, and the Royal Institute of Architects. Alongside physical models, the exhibition includes film work and a programme of discussions examining the relationship between craft, representation, and contemporary architectural production.
Exhibition
Making Matters
Location
United Kingdom
Organizers
AiM, ECC, MSA
Duration
6 weeks
Making as Method
For SkB Architect’s, modelmaking is not representational alone but methodological. Physical models operate as instruments for testing and evaluating architectural ideas through scale, assembly, material behaviour, and light. They allow forms of spatial understanding that remain difficult to replicate through digital workflows alone.
As AI tools become increasingly embedded within architectural production, the exhibition positions making as a critical counterpoint: reaffirming the role of authorship, judgment, and material thinking within the design process.
