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" ,~ 0- , 'H' ~ OJ ' .Il What all the men on the committee have in
common is their involvement In the previous unconscious stages of
Manhattan; In different degrees, they are responsible for
developing Manhattan's already existing architecture. Now they have
to carve the fmal Manhattan archetype from the invIsible rock of
Its zoning envelope in a campaign of speCIfication: each InVisible
fragment will have to be made concrete in terms of activity, form,
matenals, servicing, structure, decoration, symbolism, fmance. The
Mountain must become architecture. COMPETITION At the begmning each
of the ASSOCiated Architects is asked to develop a private scheme
in competition with the others. This ploy creates an overabundance
of architectural images and energy for partial inclusion In the
diagram while it drainS ego from the indiVidual members. The two
most famous of the ASSOCiated Architects, Corbett and Hood, the
only theoreticians, propose retroactive versions of earlier,
aborted projects. Corbett sees a chance finally to impose hiS 1923
traffiC/Island metaphor to cure congestion by turning Manhattan
into a "very modernized Venice." Ferriss' renderings bring only the
Venetian elements of Corbett's scheme IOta sharp focus: a Bridge of
Sighs spans 49th Street; San Marco-like colonnades and a stream of
shiny black limousines monopolize the atten tion. The other
outlines of the scheme disappear in a mist of charcoal particles.
Corbett's Rockefeller Center, located on a synthetiC midtown
Adriatic, redeems a subconscious promise made as long ago as
Dreamland's Canals of Venice. INTERSECTION Hood's proposal too is
testimony to the persistence of his obseSSion; since the three
blocks of the site frustrate his intention finally to implant one
of his mega-Mountains on a major intersection, he creates within
the 185 184. "Proposal for the Development of Metropolitan Square,"
plan at elevated arcade level, Corbett Hamson & MacMurray,
1929. or "The Persistence of Memory (1)." Corbett's private project
tor Rocke1eller Center IS the apotheosis of his plan nmg tflfough
metaphoi. a last attempt to create "a very modernIzed VenIce" In
hIs IIfetome. present ed as a logIcal senes 01 ,mhoongestlOn mea
sures. The three blocks 01 RadIO CIty are treated as ,slands"; the
center ot the mIddle ,sland IS occupIed by the Metropolitan Opera.
surrounded by seven Skyscrapers. As to be expected. the essence of
his scheme is the separation at vehic ular trafllc -aSSIgned to the
ground - and pedestrians, for whom he creates a contmuous elevated
network on the second floor; ItS arcades ~ne the full penmeter of
the outer blocks and form. at the core 01 the scheme. a Square
around 186 the Opera, a metropolitan ambulatory whose Cir- CUIt is
completed by haltarcaded bndges _ the width at the plaza
Itself-across 49th and 50th streets. From the Square, SUbsidiary
bndges lead to side entrances in the Opera. The arcade net- work
also gIves access to the recessed lobbies ot the seven SlIyscrapers
-three on the outer blocks and one. the taYest. west 01 the ()pe4'
"hangll'lf! gardens on the roof land scaped roof!, ....lltowef
above the a.ea lorrnerly devoted to the Elgm BotanICal Gardens."
plan (John Wenrich, rendering), Bridges connect t!1I) parks on each
of the three blocks: pubhe lind enlerl,lIllmenl laoht,l!'S are
scattered thrOl.lgh the parks Pale areas are hlh rise towers: Of
_are marching towards the deYelopmenl of a new SOCllll order.
trusting In the I'ght 01 history. In the clear, ral,onal, omnipo
tent method 01 dls of the Mach,ne Age. -This c,ly 15 the result of
all the research by urbal1lsts allover the world II consists of a
sll1gle 100 story skyscraper at Its center thai Will accommodate
all the servICes of the fulure clly. Vast avenues Will oflgll1ate
from this cenlral bUlldll1g toward the gardens. parks and sportmg
fields... " (F,al'lCe-Sou. Augusl 25. 1938.) After years of
relenlless Modernist propaganda. orchestraled by the Museum of
Modern Art. Democrac>ty represents tile collapse 01 Manhat-
tanlsm. the ex()ct moment when Manhattan's arChitects surrender
the" own version of the Skyscraper as sublime mstrument of
controlled irrationality and therewith their own vision of llle
Metropolis as headquarters of a Culture of Congestion to trade it
for a Vision of Towers in a Park Insp. red moslly by Le Corbusler
Only the fact that the central Skyscraper has 100 floors betrays a
lingenng trace of Manhatfan,sm, "6 274. The Needle of the Trylon -
a triangular pylon - is empty. The Globe IS the largest ever built
in the history of mankind: its diameter is 200 feet. exactly the
width of a Manhattan block. The Perisphere is nothing but the pure
archetype of Manhattan's Sky- scraper: a Globe tall enough to be a
Tower. "Eighteen stories high, It IS as broad as a city block, its
interior more than tWice the size of Radio City Music Hall. ...~
The Perlsphere's location at the Fair, In Flushing Meadows, should
be regarded as provisional, or at least displaced. It should be
rolled over to Manhattan to assume ItS definitive posItion. Unlike
the Globe Tower, the Perisphere is not subdivided into floors. Its
interior IS hollow and contains an elaborate model of the elUSive
City of the Machme Age: "Democraclty.~ At Its center stands a
single 100story Tower, Implanted not in the Grid but In a meadow.
It is flanked by rows of subordinate towers - all Idenhcal- and
surrounded by a ~perfectly Integrated 'garden city of tommorrow.'
not a dream city but a practical suggestion of how we should be
living today, a city of light and air and green space as It would
appear from 7,000 feet. ...~~ The center of the cIty accommodates
the arts, bUSiness administration, the higher schools of learning
and the amusement and sports centers. The population lives In
satellite lowns connected with the center by efficient public
transport. "This is not a city of canyons and gasoline fumes, It is
one of simple func- tional buildings - most of them low - all of
them surrounded by green vegetation and dean air... ." Through
intermediaries, Le Corbusier has won. The city in the first and
last Globe Tower is the Radiant City. From his monitoring positIOn
in Paris, he proudly daims credit. "By the way, even American
architects realize that the unguided Skyscraper is a nonsens. "For
those who see far, New York is no longer the city of the Future,
but of the past. "New York, with its random, unspaced towers
without sufficient air, that New York will, from 1939 onward, enter
the middle ages... :'36 DENOUEMENT World War II postpones the
denouement. After the holocaust. the concept of a United Nations
revives with a new urgency. America offers 10 finance 115 home
base. An international deSign committee is set up to advise Wallace
Harrison. who is to build the new headquarters; Le Corbusler
represents France. 277 275. II UN SIte torn oN the map: le
Corbusler's prey III his grasp 278 last crilical totervcnt,on 01
Manhattan's i1utom