Visit Fallingwater before or after building a Lego model of it?

January 16, 2015 4:18 PM

We're taking our 8 & 12 year old kids to Fallingwater this spring. We're also planning to build the Lego Architecture model of it. Looking for opinions on whether it is better to build beforehand or after we return. Kids are already gung ho for both Lego and architecture, so this isn't really a question about which one will spark interest for the other -- I'm looking for insight into which order will help them understand the building best.

If you have other ideas or models, or if you've done this trip with kids before, I'd love to hear about it. And many thanks to the MeFites who gave answers to this question I posted years ago -- we are still planning our vacations around your answers!

posted by apparently to Travel & Transportation around Mill Run, PA (17 answers total)

I would think build first, visit after. This is how I (ideally) approach visual art and music. So with going to hear a symphony I'm unfamiliar with, listening to recordings of it, reading the score, and reading about the composer and the piece's context ahead of time all help familiarize me with the piece enough that when I hear it live, it feels like a coherent, comprehensible whole, and I'm able to notice the details rather than trying to grasp the thing as a concept.

Or, another comparison: we go to our local children's museum very frequently. The first couple of times we went, it was a lot to take in! We didn't know where we wanted to go. We didn't know how long things would take. Now, we know what we like, how much time to allot, etc. I think in this instance, building the LEGO Fallingwater would help create that "I've seen it before" experience -- especially since they'll actually be manipulating pieces of it. Since they presumably won't be able to go to Fallingwater frequently enough to become intimately familiar with it, viewing it through LEGO first would, I think, help them get the most of the visit.
posted by linettasky at 4:37 PM on January 16, 2015 [3 favorites]

Visit after.
Just like map reading fuels adventure.
posted by artdrectr at 4:57 PM on January 16, 2015

Since one of these actions is repeatable and the other will only happen once (in the near future anyway), why not build, visit, build? That gives the maximum number of comparisons between the two, and could lead to some interesting discoveries.
posted by jessicapierce at 5:03 PM on January 16, 2015 [7 favorites]

Before! Build anticipation and familiarity.
posted by quince at 5:06 PM on January 16, 2015

(Also are you aware that the Lego architectural models, while really, really cool, are also really, really small? They're not going to get much of an understanding of the building, other than its general shape.) (Actually, I made a mistake and it's one of the bigger ones.)(But still, only 10 inches long.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:32 PM on January 16, 2015

There was at one point a truly superlative reproduction of Fallingwater in Secondlife, which I mention only because if your boys wanted to be able to walk through the house with you before visiting it, I would be happy to find out if a worthwhile version still stands.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:44 PM on January 16, 2015

Wow, I guess I'm the only one who thinks you should visit first. That way, the representational aspects of the model will spark memory of the actual thing.
posted by Specklet at 5:44 PM on January 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

Build first to gain an understanding of the structure, design, cantilevers, etc.

Disclosure: I work for the organization that operates Fallingwater. (I appear in the video at the end of the tour). You should also take time to explore the trails of the Bear Run Nature Reserve and Ohiopyle State Park.
posted by buttercup at 5:58 PM on January 16, 2015 [7 favorites]

By all means build first - I like the map reading analogy above. I don't think that building the Lego version will give much insight about the actual construction of the house, but it will be super fun - and there is definitely something to be said for getting to know the shape of a building in miniature! I assembled this paper Robie House a long time before visiting the actual house. When I did visit in person it was pretty neat to walk around some of the spots I'd looked at with a bird's eye view.

Have you guys watched this clip of a Minecraft Falling Water build? (there are some others too, but they all seem to have excruciatingly annoying narration.)
posted by usonian at 6:29 PM on January 16, 2015

Another vote for build first! I like going to the opera but I don't really know from opera, so I like to read the Wikipedia page first to get context and a vague outline of the plot, listen to a few of the arias, and go to the pre-opera talk where someone who is good at opera tells me what I should be listening for before I go. It prepares me to enjoy the opera even more. I've skipped doing these things a couple times and it definitely changed the experience for worse. (Still great, I just was a little lost.)
posted by phunniemee at 6:51 PM on January 16, 2015

Build first (advice from a teacher). Anticipation is worth so much. Solve the problems of the architecture together, discuss what's weird and why in this house, get to know it by building it. When you see it, you'll both be so much more interested in every detail, and have a shared frame of reference that allows you to really get the most out of the experience. The reverse can be anticlimactic, and you have had fewer advance organizers so you're not as primed and will learn less.

I've visited there (though not built it in Lego). What's great is that by building, you can get a lot of the structural innovations and aesthetics under your belt. Then, while you're there, you can feel the effects of all these decisions so much more deeply, because you'll finally be seeing it in its setting. And the house is so thoughtfully built to harmonize with and maximize the sensory beauty of the setting - sounds, smells, motions. Definitely build first!
posted by Miko at 6:56 PM on January 16, 2015

As someone who works in museum education/public history, I heartily agree with building the Lego first. Visitors engage best with museum content to which they have or can make a personal connection. This plan of yours is an awesome one! I think they'll understand and appreciate what they're seeing at Fallingwater far more with previous experience.
posted by AliceBlue at 7:02 PM on January 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

By all means follow the advice of all the MeFite educators! But I just want to share a quick anecdote.

In California, 4th graders have to make a model of one of the California missions. My mom took me to visit my mission before we built the model and I did sketches and took very careful notes on things to remember for reproduction. I remember being super engaged while I was there because I was thinking about how I would try to convey that experience later to my classmates. With a Lego set this may be slightly less compelling than a free form model, but I still had a really good time studying the mission with a purpose instead of just looking at it.

Either way, this sounds like a fabulous experience for the kids!
posted by chatongriffes at 10:31 PM on January 16, 2015

I was there with my 14 yo and 11 yo this past summer. Do the in depth tour if possible. We haven't done the lego but we loved the tour and our guide was great with the kids, who asked a ton of questions.
posted by Sukey Says at 2:14 AM on January 17, 2015

It's funny I answered with a teacher hat on, because I was thinking of all the field trips I led with kids - but like AliceBlue, I'm also a museum educator and public historian by training and from that perspective, too, onsite experiences are much richer if the visitors have developed their curiosity before arriving.

And to extend the experience afterward, document your trip - take some photos or video - and think about making a scrapbook page or webpage about what you saw when you finally arrived and how it was same/different from the Lego model.
posted by Miko at 6:03 AM on January 17, 2015

I'm with jessicapierce: build, visit, and if there is still interest, re-build based on what you saw in the real thing.
posted by doctor tough love at 7:37 AM on January 17, 2015

I built a scale model of the USS Constitution in my teens. In my 50's, during a visit to Boston, I finally stepped aboard the real thing. The weird feeling of familiarity aboard was awesome.
posted by klarck at 7:47 AM on January 18, 2015