Architectural models convey an ambivalent status, divided between process and form, conceptualisation and referent. For centuries, the status of the architectural model remained a subject of theories about representation. The use of computer-assisted design technologies has brought about a radical paradigm shift. The model is no longer an object of representation, but an active agent in a genetic process, marked by transformability and adaptability. The architectural model can then appear as a phylogenetic machine. Marie-Ange Brayer is director of the Centre Regional Contemporary Art Collection in Orl