Unbuilding

Once you get past the absurd but brilliant premise that an Arabian prince purchased the Empire State Building just to have it moved overseas, David Macaulay's illustrated account of the "unbuilding" of the iconic skyscraper is a joy. It's clear and intelligent about the various devices and methods used for taking a building apart, and in turn the reader learns about how a building goes together. After all, the depiction of the unbuilding is from top to bottom, mirroring the way the building went up. But the book is more than a way of describing construction; it's also a fable about the modern world, with an ending even more bizarre than the book's premise.

2010 May 29
Yes, I'm a sucker for Macaulay.

***

It's fiction, but it's wonderfully educational. It would never have occurred to me to ask how one would de-construct the Empire State building, assuming one wanted to. But I marvel at the engineering necessary to un-build. Plus, more cool stuff about the building of the Empire State than I knew before.

2013 May 5

It's spring and a woman's fancy returns to the Empire State Building. I love this book.

Library copy

Unbuilding is another David Macaulay book that show showcases his meticulous attention to detail and his bizarre sense of humor. In this scenario, an eccentric mideast prince has bought the Empire State Building and is intent on taking it apart piece by piece to move it to the Arabian Desert.

This oddball back story makes possible the "unbuilding" of the iconic structure, and we can see how the building was built as it is slowly dismantled. Fascinating.

The ending is in keeping with the offbeat humor of the author - can't reveal it here, but I laughed out loud. (In real life I probably wouldn't have...)

This book chronicles an amazing part of history that I never knew about. It didn't quite matter that I had never been to the Empire State Building, Macaulay's illustrations create a magical world that made me hope for a different ending. The book, for those of us who are not architecturally literate, can be read solely by its pictures. For everyone else who understands and enjoys architecture, the text provides a rich explanation of what it took to dismantle the Empire State Building.

I liked the illustrations, as with all of Macauley's books, but the story was too contrived and took away from the drawings.

What a great book. A work of love. So simple but it reminds of Matthew Barney in some ways.

Great for your spacial learners. Helps show students the actually size of the building. Great illustrations.