Small-scale models put big projects in perspective Help wary public envision construction proposals

Small-scale models put big projects in perspective
Help wary public envision construction proposals
BY KATHY KAHN

Dan Schillberg loves to travel. One trip to Chicago might have been another “Two for the Road” experience with partner Dominique Haggerty had it not been for their cargo -- a scale model of 600 Lake Shore Drive. “You don’t worry too much about hitting a pothole until you are carrying a year’s worth of your labor in the back seat,” says Schillberg, co-founder of Builder of Scale (www.builderofscale.com).

600 North Lake Shore Drive was the last piece of undeveloped waterfront on Chicago’s coveted shoreline and Belgravia Group Ltd. wanted a scale model of its proposed luxury condominiums so the public and planning commission could see what the project would look like. “People in the adjoining properties had many concerns,” says Schillberg. “They were worried they would lose their view of Lake Michigan; others wondered what the building would look like once it went up. Would it ‘ruin’ the neighborhood? Would it fit in? The public is uncomfortable when developers come in and pin up a bunch of drawings, there’s almost a feeling that ‘they’ are coming to destroy their neighborhood. When people see a physical model, l think it helps them get a better sense of what someone is proposing to build. It helps the planning boards, too. They can walk around it, get the view, visualize what’s coming.”

He and Haggerty have collaborated on several to-scale models, including one of Manhattan’s Guggenheim Museum, a replica so detailed that every curve, doorway and window of the multistoried gallery was created so curators could determine placement of exhibits.

Their last project was a model of Hope Lodge for the American Cancer Society. The ACS has launched a national campaign for Hope Lodge, a place families of cancer patients can stay while loved ones are receiving treatment. The model will travel the country to help with the fund-raising effort.

ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

“I’ve been building as long as I can remember and I think I wanted to be an architect even longer than that,” says the Cornwall resident. His parents’ divorce brought his mom back to New York, but Schillberg returned home to Nebraska every summer to work alongside his father, a carpenter. “Working with my Dad really helped me. I spent three to four months every year on construction sites, learning how houses are put together. Framing them out, learning about wiring, where the plumbing goes and seeing the problems that can arise….Just as an example one building had a staircase in the drawings but when they went to build it, it led right into a wall. You don’t know what can come up during the actual building process, so you have to learn to correct things right on the spot. Now, when I build a model, I think of it as the actual house or building….I can see where things may work and where they won’t. Of course, it’s on a much smaller scale…but the concept is the same.”

Schillberg always loved making models but started using his skills professionally as a result of encouragement from one of his Cooper Union teachers, architect Alexander Gorlin. He interned summers for Gorlin until graduated from Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture in 2004. He and Haggerty started their model-making business, Builder of Scale in earnest, in 2005.

Will Schillberg ever go for his architect’s license and build full-size versions of the miniature masterpieces he now produces? “I’m still conflicted,” admits Schillberg. “Right now, I love what I’m doing and we are starting to branch out, designing some custom furniture and doing some interior design work. Today’s engineers are truly the architects in our society. It would be wonderful to have a firm where designers and engineers could work collaboratively.”

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