Gone to the Dogs: ( It's That Time Again)

This morning Martha and Elisa's class (3rd & 4th graders) brought in their architect projects for display. It's an annual project -- each student studies an individual architect, and creates a posterboard display and a research folder from their findings. But the real fun is for the canines -- a mini-doghouse designed and built in the style of the chosen architect.

They are all so cool and crazy that I never can decide on a total favorite, but this year one architect stood out for me. When a student came to ask for a book on Leila Ross Wilburn, my librarian's heart hated to say that we didn't have one. A little research uncovered that Wilburn was singlehandedly responsible for designing much of residential Decatur around Agnes Scott College -- that's my neighborhood (more or less)! Who knew?

Turns out that a lot of folks knew, and so should you. Here's a brief bio of the architect in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, and a page about her contribution to the architecture of Decatur's MAK (McDonough-Adams-King's Highway) Historic District, complete with links to PDFs of many of her pattern books. Readers on campus can access this article, "Leila Ross Wilburn: Plan-Book Architect," from Woman's Art Journal, through our JSTOR database.

There's always something new to learn. Come by the library to see all the cool Dog Dwellings on display. A few of this year's featured architects are:

James Stirling
(the lucky Chihuaua above's house)

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Fumiko Maki

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Jorn Utzon
(of the Sydney Opera House)


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Philip Johnson

and many, many more. See you in the Library!