A few years ago, when I organized my many construction images, I realized that I had a rather large collection of pictures of various construction mockups. Those structures typically only serve a temporary purpose during construction and are then removed once a project is complete.
It always seemed to me (as an educator) to be quite a waste to lose those mockups and thus their ability to educate about building materials and systems. I have in the past tried to save some (or build new ones) and have toyed with the idea of a mockup storage. Obviously a physical “museum” of mockups would take up considerable space, which led me to the realization that at the very least I should try to preserve them in digital image form.
This led to me creating a dedicated site at constructionmockups.info with the idea that it could serve as such a “museum” for construction mockups. As I am consolidating my digital content, I have now moved all of the posts from that site to a dedicated Construction Mockups category on this site (buildingfundamentals.com). This category features my content so far, but will also be the location where I post more of these in the future.
I hope you enjoy the collection and find it useful. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of it.
What are Construction Mockups?
Construction mockups are an interesting component of almost every construction site. They are physical manifestations of a typically small but significant portion of a project: a corner, a window, a special façade element. Builders use them to practice the assembly process, and owners and designers use them to verify and finalize material and color choices. In many cases, mockups even serve as test specimens for e.g. air infiltration or seal leakage testing.
While they are crucial for the success of a construction project, mockups are never kept past building completion. Their existence is ephemeral, yet they explain so much about a building’s layers or the thinking that went into the design and construction process.
Whenever I walk past a construction site, I look for mockups that typically get placed somewhere at the perimeter of the project. In my many years of photographing construction, I have come across several of these and am using this website’s category to share them with the world.