Process

4 min read

A model lit by a single LED

Lena Vik builds every 1:50 model with one hidden light inside. It is the most honest test a design can face.

Lena Vik

Model Maker

At 1:50, a window is barely three centimetres wide. Put a single warm LED inside a model that size and every decision becomes visible: where light leaks, where it pools, where it dies.

The review evening

Each design stage ends with a review evening. We switch off the studio lights, open the model and let clients walk around it with their eyes at street level.

Clients forget the drawings. They never forget the model glowing on the table.

The models are built from grey board, basswood and plaster, with interiors painted in the real material tones so the light behaves as it will on site.

  • One light source, always warm white

  • Interiors painted in true finishes

  • Viewed only at eye level

Several models now live in our clients’ homes — usually on a shelf, usually lit.

Keep reading

More notes from the studio.

Night Notes

Four letters a year on light, materials and the buildings on our drawing boards. No noise, ever.

Lisbon

Rua das Janelas Verdes 37
1200-690 Lisboa, Portugal

Rua das Janelas Verdes 37
1200-690 Lisboa, Portugal

Oslo

Tjuvholmen allé 14
0252 Oslo, Norway

Tjuvholmen allé 14
0252 Oslo, Norway

© 2026 Maridor Architects Lda.

Set in Cormorant Garamond & Work Sans

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