What It Feels Like To Be a Building

What It Feels Like To Be a Building
Forrest Wilson ~ Doubleday & Co., 1969

Boy, do I love school libraries! Now that we've settled into the routine of week two, I can update you a bit on the awesomeness of my son's new library. It's beautiful, and the amazing staff there do a great job keeping it running and organized and relevant. This being my second week of volunteering, a three hour and 45 minute shift yesterday proved the place to be the activity hub of the school. Nothing is more inspiring than seeing children with books... talking about books, selecting books, READING books. The principal comes in and out. The teachers buzz through. Hardly seems like work at all. Makes me wish I could go back and get a library science degree. But anyways, I digress.

Wanted to share a gem with you readers who love design and architecture and the like. Forrest Wilson has been as a laborer, a journeyman carpenter, a construction superintendent, a professor and adviser of architecture at Pratt/Parsons/Ohio U./Catholic U., the editor of Progressive Architecture, as well as a father. I believe this and Bridges Go From Here To There were his only books for children but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Not sure if his cut and paste oddity Build Your Own Moon Settlement is meant for children or just grownups with an awesome sense of imagination... I can't even ascertain online whether the man is still alive, but one thing is for sure. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a building, you've come to the right place. From the intro...

Architecture can be understood by everyone. You can feel gravity, therefore you can begin to feel architecture. Buildings experience the same stresses and strains of gravity that man does himself. For this reason, it is possible to translate the basis laws of building into physical feeling.

for example...


or this...

Unusual drawings that explain how the column, beam, buttress and arch work. A great way to start a conversation with your child about the buildings that surround us and how they are created... all in a stylized package, wonderfully-evocative of the era when design and children's books met.



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