Ephemeral 'Cities' - Page 7

wrab · #**121** Posted **Oct 14, 2010, 3:22 AM**

Map of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair:

LINK

wrab · #**122** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:19 AM**

1939 New York World's Fair - Nighttime illumination

LINK

wrab · #**123** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:22 AM**

Trylon & Perisphere, 1939 New York World's Fair. The Trylon was 700 feet / 213 meters tall. Too bad that these two weren't permanent IMHO.

LINK

ronsmedia @ Picassa

wrab · #**124** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:29 AM**

Democracity on view inside the perisphere:

LIFE

LINK

wrab · #**125** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:41 AM**

GM's Futurama at the 1939 New York World's Fair:

DavideLevine @ Flickr

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Christopher Vassallo @ Picassa

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LINK

ethereal_reality · #**126** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 6:26 PM**

^^^Amazing photographs from the 1939 World's Fair wrabbit.
The Trylon and Perisphere were sublime.

In terms of lighting, Dietrich Neumann writes in Architecture of Night-

"Only the Trylon and Perisphere at the heart of the exhibition were floodlit.
This illumination focused on the Perishere, commencing at dusk with an amber glow,
and then cycling through a sequence of reds, and finally changing to an intense blue.
Thirty projectors, each with nine 400watt mercury-capillary lamps,
were required to illuminate the three acres of the Perisphere's exterior.
Finally, another thirty 2,500-watt tungsten lamps fitted with aluminum disks projected clouds
onto the globe's blue background."

wrab · #**127** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:00 PM**

^ Wow - those illuminations sound powerful. Since Technicolor technology was already available at the time, perhaps there's a color film out there somewhere. I'd love to see that. The idea of projecting an animation onto the Perisphere's surface - of using the building as a movie screen - was way ahead of its time.

ethereal_reality · #**128** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:40 PM**

Another great fair centerpiece was the SKYLON.

The Skylon was a steel tensegrity structure built on the south bank of the Thames for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

U.K. archive

Below: The futuristic shaped spire seemed to float above the ground.

postcard

u.k. archive

wikipedia

Roger Mayne

ethereal_reality · #**129** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:45 PM**

Here is a wonderful illustration of the Festival of Britain.

u.k.archive

Above: The brick structure with the 'radar' on top is an old Shot Tower (for the manufacture of ammunition)

Below: A night time view of the Skylon.

u.k. archive

ethereal_reality · #**130** Posted **Oct 17, 2010, 7:56 PM**

A poster for the exhibition.

u.k. archive

Below: One last image of the Skylon.

u.k. archive

They're trying to rebuild the Skylon!

Here is the link.
http://www.voteforskylon.com/

ethereal_reality · #**131** Posted **Oct 21, 2010, 3:09 AM**

The Atomium at the Brussels World's Fair 1958.

snapshot from ebay

wrab · #**132** Posted **Oct 21, 2010, 3:37 AM**

^ The Atomium is still there and looking good too.

juliand_777 @ Flickr

wrab · #**133** Posted **Oct 21, 2010, 3:49 AM**

Those Skylon shots are amazing. I see now too from the overviews that Rogers had some precedent for the Millennium Dome.

You can still get a (small) taste of the Skylon by visiting the model at the British Museum:

LINK

ethereal_reality · #**134** Posted **Oct 21, 2010, 3:23 PM**

^^^That model is great. I'd love to see that in person.

MolsonExport · #**135** Posted **Oct 21, 2010, 4:14 PM**

Fvck I love this thread.

KellyT · #**136** Posted **Jul 8, 2011, 8:44 PM**

I am so excited to have found this thread!! I am speechless at the pics you have of the Chicago "White City"!!!! I read the book "Devil in the White City" and became obsessed with all World's Fair documents/pictures and sites. I went to the 1982 Knoxville W.F. and last year was able to go up in the tower. This past May (2011) went to NY to visit my nephew and I got pictures of Corona Park and what is left there. I will try to post my pictures if I can figure out how. (Will someone tell me?)

Thank you again for wonderful information and views of everything!!!

wrab · #**137** Posted **Jul 8, 2011, 9:47 PM**

Hi, KellyT. It's easy to post your pics but you'll need to get them online first: 1) Open a free account at a photo-hosting site like flickr.com, photobucket.com, etc; 2) Upload your pics to the site; 3) Link to the pics here at SSP.

ethereal_reality · #**138** Posted **Jul 9, 2011, 12:25 AM**

Welcome to the thread KellyT.

I use imageshack to post my pics. It's a little more involved than it sounds.
If you have any difficulties let us know.

BnaBreaker · #**139** Posted **Jul 9, 2011, 2:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

Jesus, look at that old womans waist, how in the world could peoples lungs function in those things or for that matter, your intestines?

That old woman kinda looks like Glenn Beck. lol

Centropolis · #**140** Posted **Jul 9, 2011, 2:31 AM**

the skylon looks like something i might have hallucinated when i had really bad fevers as a child, the wretched top and bottom terminus tips stretching ad nauseum.

i like it.