Map Preservation Volunteer Opportunity - October 24
Map Preservation (literally)
Posted by: "Baruch" barry@droginconsult.com bdrogin
Date: Thu Oct 8, 2009 7:45 am ((PDT))
Volunteers needed to help preserve 1964 World's Fair 130'x166' terrazzo replica of Texaco New York State Road Map designed by Philip Johnson.
Please RSVP to Michelle Langlie (Michelle.Langlie@Parks.NYC.gov) if you wish to participate and forward to anyone you may think would be interested. Full details below.
Saturday, October 24th, 9a.m. - 4 p.m.
Designed by famed American architect Philip Johnson for the 1964 World's Fair, the large-scale terrazzo art pavement was commissioned by Governor Nelson Rockefeller for the New York State Pavilion. Johnson's Pavilion featured a complex of structures: a Theaterama building, three observation towers, and the "Tent of Tomorrow," a 12-story open-air elliptical pavilion capped by the world's largest suspended cable system roof fitted with colored acrylic panels. The "Tent of Tomorrow" became a symbol of the fair, and for its main floor, Johnson designed the largest-known representation of any area of the earth's surface: a 130-foot by 166-foot terrazzo replica of a Texaco New York State road map.
Although the Fair buildings were intended as temporary, 1965 plans for creating Flushing Meadows-Corona Park identified the Pavilion for preservation and reuse. While the Theaterama was later successfully renovated as a community theater, the remaining complex is closed and derelict. Today the Tent is used for storage, and the Road Map is in an advanced state of deterioration from weathering, vandalism, and past inappropriate recreational uses.
We're looking for volunteers to help out onsite on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24th, performing a range of activities from removal of invasive vegetation, to the careful and systematic collection and bagging of map fragments that have been dislodged from the floor of the Pavilion. Instruction would be given to the volunteers on how to go about collecting the fragments before any work would begin. We're looking for volunteers who are responsible, pay close attention to detail, and can follow instructions. Given the historical nature of the work, a certain degree of sensitivity is required. Everyday more of the famous map disappears, making the proposed conservation work critical.
Volunteers should meet at the Olmsted Center (Flushing Meadows Corona Park) by 9 a.m. Preservation Alumni will provide lunch. All alumni, friends, family, co-workers and associates are welcome. There is a lot of work to be done and many volunteers are needed so please feel free to forward to others whom you think might be interested. Additional details will be sent out closer to the volunteer work day. Please visit www.conlab.org to read about previous work done at the site by the University of Pennsylvania and the related exhibition held at the Queens Museum.
If you are interested, please RSVP as soon as possible at Michelle.Langlie@Parks.NYC.gov or at 718.760.6677.
posted by Noreen Whysel @ 1:24 PM
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