The project
Built in 2024 for Hanner, a Lithuanian real estate developer, this is an architectural scale model of Business Stadium Central in Vilnius, a building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The model was made as an exhibition piece for the EBIT Conference 2024 and was afterwards displayed in Hanner's own offices.
The approach
Hanner supplied the architects' 3D files. A Zaha Hadid Architects building is curved and layered in a way that no single process handles well, so the first decision was which part of the building suited which machine. Floor slabs, facades, terraces, landscaping and rooftop details each ended up being made a different way, and the model was planned around those splits before any part was cut.
How it was made
The floor slabs were laser cut from white acrylic and stacked to build up the tiers. The facade window frames were 3D printed and fitted with thin transparent sheet to recreate the glazing. Textured adhesive films stand in for the wooden terraces and the green roof surfaces. The landscaping, fountains and planting were made by hand. Smaller details, including the outdoor furniture and the rooftop solar panels, were 3D printed and fitted individually. The base was CNC machined, and almost everything above it was laser cut, 3D printed, or assembled by hand.
Where the same approach works
A developer's presentation model has one job, which is to let people walk around a building before it exists. This one had to hold a stand at a conference and then keep working as an office piece afterwards, so it had to survive transport and handling as well as photograph well. The same approach suits sales pavilions, investor presentations, planning submissions, and permanent lobby models.
