Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Century 21 Exposition

architectural elevation Seattle Space Needle



Century 21 Exposition (Seattle, Wash.), design for the Space Needle, elevation







Seattle observation deck architectural design



Century 21 Exposition (Seattle, Wash.), proposed

design for the Space Needle and grounds, site plan







Seattle space needle summit cutaway



Space Needle summit cutaway







Seattle space needle elevator plans





Seattle space needle elevator design



Space Needle elevator plans









Seattle Century 21 exposition - Ford pavilion geodesic dome



Ford pavilion geodesic dome



"In 1957 Paul Thiry, one of Seattle's earliest practitioners of European Modernism, was appointed principal architect of Century 21, the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. The Ford pavillion, part of the Triangle of the Future, was located near the south gate on Boulevard 21. Under its geodesic dome, visitors were entertained by a simulated flight to outer space in a model rocket ship. An auto show was also part of the attraction at the pavillion, where the Ford Motor Company displayed some of the consumer products it had in development."





Century 21 exposition - ground plan



"This drawing shows a preliminary design of an observation tower and restaurant for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair Exhibition. Set on the only section of the fair grounds that was not owned by the city, the site did not have the height restrictions of other exhibits/pavillions at the fair. The lot, 37-by-37 m, was purchased by private investors for $75,000 and is still privately owned. Although there is much contention surrounding who came up with the final design of the Space Needle, John Graham is widely acknowledged as its architect."





Seattle exposition - Nalley's fine food pavillion





Nalley's Fine Food Pavillion - Seattle 1962



"The Nalley's Fine Food pavilion was a plastic form shell pneumatically applied on a frame of reinforcing rods and metal lathe. The exterior of the pavilion was constructed without a straight line or sharp angle. The unique oval contained a theater which showed movies of the great Pacific Northwest. In the lobby of the building were displays of the food products from Nalley's Tacoma-based company."







Century 21 Seattle First National Bank design plan





Century 21 exposition - Seattle first national bank architectural design

"The site for the Century 21 Branch of the Seattle First National Bank was located at the northwest corner of the Friendship Mall. [design proposals]







Seattle First National Bank - design plan of canvas awning



"The Century 21 Branch of the Seattle First National Bank was located at the north-west corner of the Friendship Mall. It featured a canvas awning stretched over a steel frame decorated with the flags of the participating nations."







design for the Space Needle, west elevation and floor plans



Preliminary sketch for Space Needle and floor plans by Victor Steinbreuk







Century 21 exposition - proposed design for the Space Needle and grounds, rendering





Design render of Seattle space needle and exposition grounds

Rendered proposals for exposition grounds







[click images for larger versions]







I've been toying around with Google alerts (a regular automatic search in news/blogs/websites) the last couple of months with varying outcomes. I nearly stopped the weekly emails in February when a 1997 website was included with 'new digitial collection' search results. But they do add a certain lazy randomness to my trawling habits.



In this case I was directed to the Century 21 Exposition design plans for the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair that belong to the Architecture of the Pacific NorthWest Database at the University of Washington. I was nearly sure I could see Kurt Russell among those uniquely architectural 2-D figures in the Ford Pavillion sketch plans.



The descriptions included above are copied from the site but seem not always to be totally accurate for each of the illustrations. 'Observation deck' and 'site plans' are favoured terms. I had to play around with the image URLs to get complete large illustrations.

I was a little disappointed that there don't appear to be many decent futuristic diagrams and brochures from Seattle 1962 Century 21 online. Links anyone?

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