Tasarımın erken veya kavramsal aşamalarında maketle çalışmak, nesne- beden ilişkisini düşünmeye ve üç boyutlu değerlendirmeye olanak sağlar; görme, dokunma ve hareketleri de içeren mekan algısını devreye sokarak tasarım sürecini zenginleştirir. Mimari tasarımın erken aşamalarının sayısal ortama taşınması, tasarım ve üretim süreçlerinin hızlanıp bütünleşmesiyle giderek yaygınlaşırken, elle çalışmanın getirdiği kazanımların yeni ortamlarda nasıl sürdürülebileceği sorusu ortaya çıkmaktadır. üç boyutlu algının görsel algıyı desteklerken yaratıcı düşünceyi de tetiklediğini gösteren çalışmalar, elde maket yapmanın tasarımcıya ve tasarıma bilişsel düzeyde katkı koyduğunu varsaymamıza kaynak olmuştur. Çalışmamızda, bilişsel kazanımların ortamlar arasındaki sürekliliğinin sağlanmasına yönelik bir amaç güdülmüş, maket yapımında gözlemlenen bir dizi el hareketinin sayısal ortama tercümesi konusu ele alınmıştır. Sınırlı bir örneklem ile çalışılarak üç boyutlu eskiz maket yapımında gözlemlenen temel el hareketleri çözümlenmiş, bunların sayısal ortama aktarımında kullanılabilecek soyut bir dağarcık yaratılması ve bu dağarcığın öğelerinin işlenmesine yönelik hesaplama yöntemleri tartışılmıştır.

Model making plays a crucial part in the early stages of architectural design. It captures spatial percepts and allows for three dimensional thinking and evaluation, hence establishing a direct connection between the body and the object. In the context of architectural design, model making enables exploration of the formal and the spatial qualities of a design through the contrasts in different aspects such as form, size, color or material. The easily revisable nature of the conceptual models helps architects to search for the design alternatives (Knoll and Hechinger, 2007, 19). Architectural scale models are design tools that promote thinking and the communication between the designer and the design (Smith, 2004). Models in the making, aside from serving the material undertaking of a design idea, act as sketches just as two dimensional sketch drawings do. Gürsoy (2010) has recently discussed model-making as a form of preliminary design sketching, and the possible contribution of its inherent ambiguities to the design process. Model sketches are objects in becoming, subject to the designer’s spatial perception and intellect. They are continually open to discoveries. Within the scope of this paper, the point of interest in model sketches is that they contribute not only to seeing but also to touching many possibilities within a design idea. Cognitive studies show that when the three dimensional sense of touch and the sense of vision are used together, perception is faster than when either one is used alone. The sense of touch alone can yield to faster perception of complex forms than the visual one (Jones et al., 2005). Similarly the perception of visual information is directly related to that of haptic information. There are cases where visual perception misleads haptic perception as well as cases where visual perception is weak due to the lack of haptic perception (Reiner, 2008). Haptic feedback improves the quality of discernment in the early phases of object exploration (Moll and Sallnäs, 2009) and touching the objects provides detailed information in comparison with the macro details the naked eye perceives (Reiner, 2008). In other literature related to design thinking, haptic senses are often observed to be as crucial for creative activities as vision (Prytherch and Jerrard, 2003). Moreover, there is a direct correlation between the development of haptic senses and the experience and practice of crafting skills (Treadaway, 2009). Information that the hands supply to the brain is important for not only the perception of the environment but also the expressive skills of the designer. In the context of digital design, haptic interaction is considered as a beneficial aspect of the multi-modal process (Schkolne, Pruett and Schröder, 2001). 3D sketches support conceptual phases of design by providing spatial interaction with the design objects as well as enhancing the perception of the scale and the orientation (Israel et al., 2009). Virtual reality 3D sketching improves cognitive abilities in conceptual phases of design (Rahimian and Ibrahim, 2011). Early stages of a design process are where the designer experiments with the initial concepts and the perceptual qualities of the envisioned design idea. In our contemporary culture of technology, the acts of design performed in these stages are being transferred into the digital domain more and more as design and production processes merge and gain speed. The visual and spatial integrity of design performances in earlier stages has value for the entire design process and should be sustained in the digital domain as well. The value of hands-on design thinking, or in other words the spatial and visual thinking with materials at hand, comes forth in pedagogical discussions that emphasize design reasoning in the field of arts and design as early as the beginning of the 19th century. Considering the literature above, its sustainment today is crucial for the future of design thinking in the information age. The present study analyzes a limited sampling of different hand movements performed while working on a physical sketch model. Several actions and the movements that are used while performing these actions are identified and classified. The aim is to create an abstract repertoire of model making hand movements for the purpose of digitizing them. This constitutes a first step towards carrying that knowledge and experience to digitized conceptual stages of architectural design processes.