Flashback to Fundamentals: Strengthening “Visualize It” with Mola Models

In 2019, Spannovation’s Bridge & Seismic School released four foundational practices for building engineering judgment—Sketch It, Visualize It, Think Big Picture, and Think Construction. These weren’t just catchy phrases—they were practical, time-tested tools for young engineers to build lasting intuition.

Today, we revisit one of these: Practice 2 – Visualize It. And we show how its power is amplified through modern tools—like the Mola model.

Visualizing Behaviour: More Than Just a Skill

Visualize It means more than seeing a diagram. It’s about mentally simulating how structures deform, tracing load paths, and sensing where reactions form or failures could occur. It’s the kind of deep, muscle-memory knowledge that calculators can’t replicate—and that great engineers rely on every day.

In this clip from the Spannovation's Boost Engineering Skills series, we explore “Visualize It”—a foundational practice for developing structural intuition.

Yet many young professionals struggle with this. Why? Because they’ve never truly seen how a real structure behaves. That’s why physical model kits like Mola are so valuable.

Bringing the Practice to Life with Mola

In our recent mentoring session (as shared in the last article), an intern mis-sketched a frame's deflected shape under lateral loading. Rather than lecture, we turned to Mola. The visual clarity it offered—the inward deflection of the loaded column and the outward bowing of the opposing side—made the behaviour click.

Mola model demonstration showing the deflected shape of a moment frame under lateral load

This is Visualize It in action. The model bridges the gap between theory and feel. It allows engineers to see, adjust, and test behaviour—building a structural “gut instinct” that sketching and equations alone often can’t.

Revisiting the 2019 practices, it’s clear they weren’t just timeless—they’re future-proof. Whether sketching a moment diagram, visualizing cable profiles, or watching a Mola model react in real time, the principles remain the same. It’s the medium that evolves.

By integrating physical tools into mentorship and design discussion, we’re reinforcing the kind of visualization skills that lead to better decisions—on screen, on paper, and on site.

As we mentor the next generation of engineers, let’s remember: software may crunch the numbers, but intuition shapes the concept. And for that, we’ll keep sketching it, visualizing it—and building it, one model at a time.

🔍 Join the Spannovation Mola Quiz Challenge!

Think you’ve got the intuition? Test your skills in the Spannovation Mola Quiz Challenge — a fun, quick quiz based on real deflected shapes shown using Mola. Each challenge is designed to boost your visualization instincts.

💡 Take the quiz now:👉 Spannovation.com/quiz