Landscape architecture, as with any other design discipline, has always required representation. Before an idea can be realized it must be communicated by words and visualization. Efficient methods of exhibiting, explaining and selling a design are sketch, collage, section, layout plan, digital fly-through, perspective and computer-generated or physical models. “Of all these forms of representation, the model is the only physical, three-dimensional realization of the architect’s idea – which, after all, is ultimately intended to be a physical, three-dimensional thing”. Even the so-called 3D modeling done on the computer screen is finally represented two-dimensionally. From a historical perspective there has always been a fascination with scaled-down representations of objects and buildings. Models were used as grave goods in ancient Egypt while in medieval times masons were working with templates and full-scale mock-ups as learning tools. The architectural model, as it is used still today, was invented during the Renaissance. But do tactile models play a role in design education today? And if so, what are the benefits? This paper explores parallel teaching strategies that address both digital and analogue design methods in undergraduate design studios. The relationship between the physical model and the computer takes centre stage.