Clemson alumna empowers girls with new children’s book

Nicole Coker, an alumna of both the Bachelor of Arts in Architecture and Master of Architecture program and current lecturer in the School of Architecture, recently self-published a new children's book, "Be A Builder with Beah."

Coker wrote the book to "empower young readers, especially girls, to explore the world of architecture and construction."

The illustrated children's book follows a girl named Beah (Be-uh) who discovers a beautifully crafted garden structure and is inspired to design and build her own creation. Throughout the book, she learns about all the stages of the design and construction process - from sketching and drawing to power tools and building materials.

"Introducing architecture instruction, making, tools, and sketching to the younger generation was the inspiration behind it and why I wanted to create a children's book based on architecture," explained Coker. "I had this side of me asking, 'How can I share this with the next generation?' One of the things I loved about being at Clemson was that I gained a wealth of experience doing community-build, and I thought, what if I had known these skills or knew how to do these things a lot sooner?"

Coker explained that the book breaks down the fundamentals of design and architecture in a visual way.

"One of the things I think is really cool is that the book showcases [architectural and design practices] through illustration," Coker explained. "This is why illustrating the children's book was so important. For kids to see it and watch a character like them sketching and building. Seeing this, they can then visualize themselves doing this as well."

Growing up, Coker explained she didn't know about architecture or construction, but when she applied to Clemson, she took a chance.

"I didn't know much about architecture because I came from a very small high school, and we did not have many opportunities to understand all the different types of career fields out there. But when applying to Clemson, I took a chance on architecture," she explained.

Additionally, Coker's book features a recreation of one of the projects she worked on while studying with the communityBUILD program in Charleston. She placed the William Enston Home Pavilion in the book because it is a place people can visit in real life to accompany the book.

"One of the things I loved about the Clemson Design Center in Charleston is that everything we did in the communityBUILD program was community-focused," shared Coker. "The William Enston Home Pavilion was one of my favorite projects because it was deeply rooted in context and took cues from its history. The design is really thoughtful and unique, so it became a little cameo in the book."

Coker hopes that her book can help children learn the basics of design and architecture and empower parents to know they can also make and build things and teach their kids hands-on skills.

"One of the big drivers was to hopefully inspire parents to think, 'Oh, let me show my kid how to do something different,'" Coker said. "There are also many adults these days who don't know how to use power tools or how to fix something simple. It gives them the autonomy to think, "I can do this. I can fix it on my own."

The book doesn't just tell a story; it provides families with projects they can work on together.

"It's like, here we have the book. It's teaching these skills. But in the back of the book, there's a little toolbox build kit so that the readers can put what they are seeing in the book into action," Coker shared. "I give step-by-step instructions, so not only is the book showing that you can do it, but it also gives you a project that you can do yourself. So hopefully, it encourages parents to realize, 'we can buy one two-by-six, and we can chop this thing up and make this happen.'"

For Coker, this book is just the beginning; she is working towards developing workshops with kids and families throughout South Carolina, teaching design-build skills and providing new opportunities for young girls to step into the design-build field.

Coker's book is available on Amazon.

To check out the Clemson communityBUILD Projects that Nicole and many other Clemson students have designed and built, visit https://caccstudiov.com/ to learn more!

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