BUILDING BIG Companion Book
By David Macaulay

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Why this shape and not that? Why steel instead of concrete or stone? Why put it here and not over there? In BUILDING BIG, the companion book to the five-part public television series, David Macaulay gets readers thinking about structures they see and use every day -- bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes, and dams. Whether a structure is imposing or inspiring, he shows us that common sense and logic play just as important a part in architecture as do imagination and technology. As always, the Caldecott Medal-winning author inspires readers of all ages to look at their world in a new way. Full-color illustrations.

Hardcover, 192 pages
Written and illustrated by host David Macaulay
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, © 2000
WG1081
$30.00
Price does not include shipping and handling charges.

To order call WGBH Boston Video at 1-800-949-8670 x498.

*Note: For sale to individuals, educators, educational institutions, and libraries in the United States.

Book Excerpt
David Macaulay on BUILDING BIG
The preface to the series companion book, BUILDING BIG

BUILDING BIG began as five films about the creation of bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, domes and dams. Over a period of about two years, various producers, film crews, and I checked in and out of hotels on four continents and talked to a lot of people who either design, build, or study these structures. While the filmmakers were concentrating at least as much on the human stories -- the ambition, the heartbreak, the triumph -- as on the technical, I found myself increasingly intrigued by the nuts and bolts. It's just the kind of the person I am. Why this shape and not that? Why steel instead of concrete or stone? Why put it here and not over there? Asking these kinds of questions took me back to the basic design process behind everything that gets built -- a process which itself begins with questions as engineers and designers struggle to identify and prioritize the problems that must be solved. And it was this particular aspect of building big that finally convinced me there was a role for a so-called companion book.

Knowing that the films would present the big picture -- including the larger historical, social, and environmental issues associated with the building of big things -- I was free to operate on a much smaller scale. Using some but not all of the examples chosen for the films, this book focuses entirely on the connections between the main planning and design problems that had to be solved and the solutions that were eventually built. There is something reassuring about the fact that whether structures inspire or simply intimidate with their scale, each is generally the result of a logical and therefore accessible sequence of events. Once we recognize that the elements of common sense and logic play at least as important a role in this process as imagination and technical know-how, even the biggest things we build can be brought down to size.