A Great Way to Break Ground

Digging through my blog's "pending" folder on my computer, I came across this rendering of the Parmly Billings Library in Billings, Montana, designed by Will Bruder Architects. The building broke ground last June and is expected to be done the end of this year.


[Rendering of Parmly Billings Library | image source]

What drew me to the project was actually the groundbreaking itself, which consisted of about 300 people forming the footprint of the building on site:


[Parmly Billings Library's groundbreaking ceremony | top image source]

I really like the idea of the groundbreaking, because it links people to the physical aspects of the future building, especially its scale. It also prompts people to use their imagination to envision the building as something they'll occupy. I figured this couldn't be the first occasion of such a groundbreaking, and a quick Google image search for "groundbreaking people outline building" did yield a few more:


[Austin Baptist Church, Austin, Texas | image source]


[Waterbrook Bible Fellowship, Denton, Texas | image source]


[Heidelberg University Residence Life and Learning Hall, Tiffin, Ohio | image source]