Archetypes uses photography to document full-scale architectural mock-ups as they are found on construction sites and testing facilities around the globe. The project is the first of its kind to document and bring to a general audience this largely unknown architectural practice. A form of proxy architecture, the mock-up is frequently comprised of disparate elements from a single building project. Mock-up aid in the overall understanding of how a building's components will appear or function: windows, curtain wall systems, or material samples often find themselves coupled together in an assemblage that bears more resemblance to public art installations than to architecture. The mock-up's temporary status puts it in league with another better-known architectural typology: the film set. To this end, the Archetypes project utilizes direct, dramatic lighting to isolate the mock-ups from their often-haphazard construction site settings.

David K. Ross's projects lie at the intersection of photography, film, and installation, with a particular interest in the ephemeral and inchoate aspects of civic or cultural infrastructures. A monographic publication that features images from his Archetypes project is to be published by Standpunkte (Basel) in 2020.