"Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky..."

My mother, who designed all three of our family homes in New Zealand, used this method (back then it was cardboard) to try out her designs in 3-D. Once it was finished, she'd take the model out to the section early in the morning and, with her thermos and a good book, sit with it all day to see how it worked for the sun, adjusting the angle here and there to ensure that she had the very best fit on the...