Long before Google became a verb, the word Googie was used as an adjective to describe modernist architecture that was influenced by the mid-20th century\u2019s car culture and golden era of jet travel along with the burgeoning Space and Atomic Ages. The New York World\u2019s Fair that opened in 1964 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, became a showcase for the Googie style with many eye-catching pavilions that incorporated design elements such as massive cantilevers, upswept roofs, and shapes resembling spacecraft. Fifty-four years ago, in July of 1962, Severud Associates was retained to provide structural engineering services for the Johnson\u2019s Wax Pavilion, a building which reflected the very essence of the Googie style.<\/p>\n
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Known as the Golden Rondelle, the Johnson\u2019s Wax Pavilion looked like a giant flying saucer that had temporarily landed at the fair\u2019s spaceport. The dramatic lens-shaped structure, encased in anodized aluminum, was supported by six 90-foot high columns that arched upward and inward to form a partial canopy above. The rondelle enclosed a large movie theater where fairgoers could see To Be Alive!, a feel-good film that subsequently won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. The curved two-story companion building at the base of the pavilion featured a structure for children to climb on, a home care information center, and an area for free shoe shines.<\/p>\n
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When work began on the Golden Rondelle, Severud\u2019s engineers were already familiar with the challenges of designing architecturally unique structures for the fair: A month earlier, the firm started design of the United States Pavilion (pictured above), working with the same architect who had retained them the year before to engineer Madison Square Garden. The Federal Pavilion, as it was alternatively called, featured a fa\u00e7ade of multi-colored glass and fiberglass walls and was framed using a two-way system of cantilevered trusses. The entire building was supported by just four steel columns that made it appear to be floating about 20 feet above the ground. The pavilion housed exhibit space and two theaters.<\/p>\n
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In addition to designing these iconic pavilions, Severud Associates engineered the New York City Pavilion (based on a building that remained from the 1939\/1940 World\u2019s Fair), the Rheingold Pavilion, the Caribbean Pavilion, specialty restaurants for Brass Rail Food Service, and other refreshment complexes throughout the fairgrounds. The firm was also retained to provide design services for the World of Food Pavilion, the Hall of Medicine and Health, and the Uruguayan Pavilion, but they were never built.<\/p>\n
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Severud\u2019s portfolio of projects has always included unique and challenging structures, many of which required specialized designs. Since the 1964\/1965 New York World\u2019s Fair, the firm has engineered the Crystal Cathedral and Los Angeles Metro\u2019s Red Line Canopies in California; the Jeppesen Terminal Roof at Denver International Airport; and Lincoln Center\u2019s LCT3\u2013Claire Tow Theater addition and the World Financial Center Ferry Terminal, both in New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Long before Google became a verb, the word Googie was used as an adjective to describe modernist architecture that was influenced by the mid-20th century\u2019s car culture and golden era of jet travel along with the burgeoning Space and Atomic Ages. The New York World\u2019s Fair that opened in 1964 in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, … Continue reading “Pavilions for the 1964\/1965 New York World\u2019s Fair”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[40,41],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5127,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3498\/revisions\/5127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev70.fiveminutes.in\/severud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}