By Paul Alexander Fast (2023)
Review Tim Ibell
Most books devoted to structural engineering focus on the techniques and processes which underpin great structural engineering. But this book is different. Design Trails: Adventures of a Structural Engineer by Paul Fast focuses on the human stories behind great structural engineering. The reader is offered the privilege to enter Paul’s life, and to experience the delightful and intimate sets of adventures which have cumulatively led to Paul’s extraordinary success in our profession.
I have stated before that the dividing line between the Gold Medallists of our Institution and the rest of us is astonishing creativity in all they do. As one of our Gold Medallists, Paul oozes creativity, and his book reveals the stories behind this wonderful talent.
The reader quickly picks up that Paul’s adoration for life’s simplest but most precious attributes—such as nature, family, friends, and having ideas —completely underpins his approach to, and success in, structural engineering. From Gulpy the Whale (don’t ask, just read it) to the restoration of Mannheim, the book provides an insight into the mind of an extraordinary designer and inventor—a great engineer, in other words.
Anyone who knows Paul or his work will know that he is one of the world’s leading structural-timber designers. The book crams in a vast array of Paul’s wonderful creativity in timber engineering. The global move among structural engineers and architects to timber for all the right reasons is accelerating, and Paul is far ahead in this game. At its heart, this book is really about celebrating living wood and structural timber in equal measure. If you are looking for inspiration about how to use timber in your designs, then this book is for you. Interspersed with this inspiration is a set of stories about Paul’s family’s interactions with the life of the timber when it was living wood. This adds to the brilliant use of timber—we all love a good story, after all.
There is a fabulous quote cited in the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” This completely exemplifies the work of Paul, and the basis of all examples in the book.
Among the exquisite photographs of extraordinary structures, the imagery includes many simple, but illuminating, sketches and photographs depicting key underpinning structural principles to demonstrate what lies at the heart of the final complex-looking outcome. These explanations are gold dust for the reader, explained so beautifully.
The ‘Disappointments’ chapter is phenomenally important to students of structural engineering, of any age. Often, when someone at the top of their game is spoken about, the temptation is to believe that all they have touched has turned to gold, and that their path has somehow been easy. This chapter slices through this wonderfully, and brings Paul closer to the ‘normal’ reader. Disappointments are discussed in terms of positive lessons learned and, indeed, exploited years later. Brilliant, and humble.
A great lesson for all of us is to invite ourselves to talk to the greatest engineers and architects of our generation. Paul did this earlier in his career, and became inspired. His heroes said ‘yes’ to meeting him, and he learned bags.
Paul tells the story about using his own hands to build his log cabin in a snowy landscape. It is hard to imagine anything more stereotypical about British Columbia. It demonstrates so clearly that Paul is far more than merely a designer. English engineer Chris Wise is known for categorizing design-team members into one or more of ‘Philosopher’, ‘Artisan’ or ‘Artist’. Paul is all of the above, and the book offers insights and ideas to all three types of reader.
In short, this is a delightful, inspirational book for any designer wanting to use our natural resources beautifully, with respect, and with the greatest skill.
Professor Tim Ibell is Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Design at the University of Bath. He is a former President of IStructE, and a former Chair of JBM.