In the past two weeks, I’ve seen enough dump trucks, backhoes, concrete saws, and paving machines to satisfy even the most demanding five-year-old boy. Part of my apartment complex is still under construction, and I’ve been treated to all the sights, sounds, and smells that come with making a space livable. While it has been distracting at times (and concrete saws prove that there is indeed something more annoying than the sound of a chainsaw), watching the various layers come together in the building process has been fascinating. How do you construct a proper drainage pit? I don’t know all the details, but I can assure you it involves a large hole and many loads of dirt, gravel, and rock, all piled in a specific order. Watching the proceedings brought to mind the work of world-class author and illustrator David Macaulay, whose creative, insightful, and highly detailed books such as City and Cathedral were a source of wonder for me.
Macaulay, a British-born American, was captivated by the inner workings of the world from an early age. He would spend hours studying and then sketching various objects, trying to understand how they were constructed. This interest led him to study architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he has pursued jobs in numerous design- and teaching-related areas.
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