Creating a Cardboard Replica of Our Ancestral Home 16-Years After It Was Torn Down

in Architecture+Design3 years ago (edited)

Greetings!

When it comes to the things or structures that we built a bond our home especially our ancestral home is the one that we built the most special bond with. Right from the moment that we were born until the time that we need to live on our own our home gave us shelter. It is in our home that we learned our first knowledge, it is in our home that we took our first step as a child, it is in our home that we learned our first words, it is in our home that we first laughed and cry.

Now, 16 years ago to be exact, our ancestral home was torn down because no one will be living in it and also it is getting old and no one will maintain it. 9 years ago it was replaced by a concrete bungalow with five rooms (one for each sibling in the family). One of my siblings is the only one currently living in there but every Christmas we all go home to celebrate the yuletide season.

It is hard to say goodbye to the home where you were born and raised that is why the exact look and design of our home have never been erased in my mind and then an idea popped up in my mind "why don't I make an exact replica of it using a cardboard?" and the cardboard cutting began.

Did I just mention that the exact image of our home never left my mind? Yes, you read it right, its every angle is still very vividly embedded inside my brain. But before I could actually begin the cutting I bought cardboard worth 50 cents and a cutter also worth 50 cents and also a 50 cents white glue to stick them together.

Below is the first cut that I made, with two windows facing north.

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By the way, this is the first-ever in my life that I would do a cardboard cutting attempt to replicate a structure. With that said I have no experience at all in cardboard cutting especially in creating a miniature model of a structure. But I did watch videos of someone creating miniature models of structures many times before.

The next that I cut is the door inside leading to two huge bedrooms upstairs.

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These two triangles are parts of the roof of the largest portion of our ancestral home

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This cut is a window of the largest portion of our home facing south

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Now it is time to glue them in place, the image below is the largest portion of our ancestral home this portion houses two huge bedrooms capable of housing 4 person each. This portion is divided by a wall with a door in the middle.

But while I am doing the gluing I realized that the glue takes time to dry so I decided to buy gluesticks to replace the white glue. At this moment I am using a candle to melt the gluestick but then I realized that using a candle to melt the gluesticks makes the melted glue stick into black an unwelcome sight in creating miniature models so decided to spend more bucks by buying an electronic glue gun.

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With the glue gun at my disposal, I now tried to put together the roof but as easy as it may seem it is hard to glue the roof together without a second person holding them while I am doing the gluing. But I do not want to disturb my wife at this time because she was quite busy doing something so I just glued a piece of cardboard at the center horizontally that I can use to hold both the top ends of the roofs and presto problem solved.

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The next two photos show how the largest portion of our ancestral home looks like after I glued the roof together.

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After I finished gluing the roof together I now created posts that will serve as feet of the largest portion of our ancestral home. Below is the door portion facing south

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Here's the east view after I glued the posts

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And here's the north view after I glued the posts

The next that I created is the portion that consists of the kitchen and the living area and below is how it looks from the east

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And here's how it looks like from the west

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Another view of our ancestral home after I finished gluing the portion that consists of the kitchen and the living area

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The next that I created is the terrace which is my favorite part of our home any time of the day and any time of the night and below is how it is like after I glued the terrace to the rest.

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Below is the north view of our ancestral home after I glued the terrace

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Here's another view after I glued the terrace to the rest

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Here's the south view after I glued the terrace

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Here's another view...

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East view of our ancestral home after I glued the terrace.

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The top view of our ancestral home after I glued the terrace.

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And that's how our ancestral home looks like.

The Experience

I did enjoy the experience of creating my first-ever miniature model of a structure, especially because the structure has an emotional connection to me because it was our ancestral home back in my hometown of Nueva Ecija in the Philippines.

I learned that creating a miniature model of a structure takes time at first I thought that I can do it within one hour but I was wrong. When cutting you have to be very careful in cutting because after you cut the cardboard there's no turning back unless it is okay to just glue them back together.

When gluing you have to make sure that you never protrude the glue or else the model will look very ugly because of the protruded glues. In my case, there are lots of glues protruded but they are hardly visible unless you look very closely, in gluing I have learned that you have to put glue on the inside as much as possible so that it will never be visible from the outside of look of the model.

In this experience, I think using an illustration board is much better than using cardboard because cardboard has always the tendency to bend (just take a look at the terrace that I created).

Also, you need to make sure that your cuter is always sharp and every rushes the cutting for a finer cut.



I am an I.T. professional (Computer Engineer) working in a private company, a blogger, a father, and a husband.


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Hi Jonathan, it takes time to build and create models. We used foam boards to build scale models back in school because they're easier to cut and handle. Acetate for the glass. Would you ever consider making another model again?

Yes, definitely. I actually enjoyed making the miniature model of our ancestral home, it was a lot of fun. And thank you for letting me know about foam boards and acetate. What about the glue that you used in school? What kind?

We used to use clear color strong glues like mighty bond back in the day. The pointed nozzle helps control the amount of glue so it's cleaner. You can also use glue gun but it's quite hard to control the mess when you apply too much.

Wow! This is truly a labor of love! Because of the sentimental value of your ancestral home, it's absolutely understandable to recall most of its fundamental architectural details. Despite the tedious task of assembling your scaled house model parts from cardboard, I'm pretty sure every single bit of the process was an enjoyable task. I'd call this a nostalgic and therapeutic experience! Thank you for sharing this @afterglow!

You're welcome @storiesoferne. And yes, I enjoyed it very much from start to finish even if it took me some time to finish it.

It makes me remember the days when I made an architectural model using vinyl tiles for an elective class before. It takes time and patience to details. I bet you enjoy such task. This is cool.

Thank you. And yes, I did enjoy it very much.

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Na miss ko tuloy old house namin... Pero wala na rin 😭

Why not subukan mong gumawa din ng replica gaya ng ginawa ko? Madali lang, medyo matagal nga lang.

Hey @afterglow, the model takes to such an amazing emotional journey of your beloved ancestor's home. It is such a good activity to do. We used mount boards and glue gun to create quick and neat models for some marks in college. I recalled all those experiences while reading your blog.
Have a productive week:)

You are right it is an emotional journey and such a good actibity to do. Thank you also for letting me know about moumt boards.

This is nice!😍 I remember when I was still in high school and we need to create a miniature of two-bedroom house using an illustration board. The experience of creating it was priceless.😊

Thank you (^_^)