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| David Macaulay show explains architecture for all |
VOICE writes, "David Macaulay show explains architecture for all
BY MARK LONGAKER
The books of David Macaulay have entertained and educated a generation of children, and often their parents as well. They blend his text and illustrations in explaining for the novice such intricacies as the construction of cathedrals, pyramids — even entire cities — or the operation of everything from washing machines to microchips. "
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How Macaulay does it — that is, take something complex and render it simple enough for a child to understand — is the subject of a recently opened exhibition at the National Building Museum.
“David Macaulay: The Art of Drawing Architecture” focuses on the author-illustrator’s process mainly as it relates to building construction. It features more than 100 sketches and detail drawings, as well as photographs, videos, paper models and several interactive workstations for teaching basic architectural skills.
Though Macaulay’s interests are diverse, he trained as an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design. His first book, in fact, detailed the construction of an imaginary gothic cathedral in medieval France. Titled “Cathedral,” it appeared in 1973 and was followed by five more architecturally oriented books in as many years.
He changed direction in 1979 with “Motel of the Mysteries,” spoofing archeologists’ attempts to attribute meaning to their finds. Its whimsy, though, is characteristic, as a sense of play enlivens all his books. Whether he’s writing about a post-Apocalyptic society of sheep, as in “Baaa” (1985), or explaining how various machines work, as in “The Way Things Work” (1988), humor remains a key element.
Macaulay’s architectural books, which number about 10, marry a light-hearted approach with extensive research, making them both accessible and informative. The process he uses to reduce volumes of material down to something like an 80-page picture book — his usual format — is explored in the first of four sections making up the show.
This first section, titled “Mosque: A Study in Visual Archeology,” details Macaulay’s research for his latest book, “Mosque” (2003). Visual archeology is a metaphor for the way he works. In this case, he spent two years researching mosques built during the 16th century.
According to the wall text, he “drew hundreds if not thousands of sketches” while studying written histories, video documentaries, photographs and existing structures in Istanbul, Turkey. These sketches fused together “many layers of information to create a whole picture” and provided him “with a powerful visual means to discover, record and explain past construction techniques.”
On view are two sketchbooks from the project, as well as a series of separate drawings showing how his conception of mosque design progressed from preliminary impressions to a finished, fully realized form. Supplemental material includes Macaulay’s still and video photography, a cutaway paper model revealing dome construction, and a PBS interview with the artist talking about the imaginary mosque he shows how to build in the book.
The remaining sections of the exhibit present original drawings created for earlier books and serve to highlight the author’s playful approach in explaining architectural concepts.
A section called “Playing with Perspective” includes a drawing worthy of the cartoonist Saul Steinberg. Titled “Locating the Vanishing Point,” it appeared in the 1978 book “Great Moments in Architecture,” which spoofingly presents some decidedly not-so-great moments. The hilarious drawing shows the rails of a railroad track converging from the foreground toward the horizon, with a slight problem: They converge well before the horizon, meeting in the middle of the desert through which they run. The railroad crew stands around the vanishing point, as everyone scratches his head wondering where the tracks disappeared to.
Another section, titled“Revealing Structure,” draws mostly on the 2000 PBS series “Building Big” and its companion book of the same name. It looks under the skin of bridges, domes and skyscrapers to reveal the engineering that holds them up.
The show closes with a section called “Inspiring Imagination.” Here are such fanciful conceptions as an inflatable cathedral, another “great moment on architecture,” looking like a parade float moored with guy wires. Also, a novel look at the Empire State Building’s construction shows how the skyscraper was put together by depicting its deconstruction prior to its shipment to Saudi Arabia, where the imaginary oil sheik who bought it wants to re-install it.
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Posted on Sep 13, 2007 07:52am.
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