Month: October 2019

This is my first visit to the Queens Museum of Art Panorama of New York City. The Queens Museum of Art is located in flushing meadows, Corona Park in Queens. The museum itself was founded in 1972, however the pavilion was designed by architect Aymar Embury II for the 1939 World’s Fair. It was then renovated in 1964 by architect Daniel Chait, and used again for the 1964 World’s Fair. The museum itself screams contemporary and featured “technological” aesthetics and colors. The major color of white is shown throughout the exterior and interior of the museum with large “bay windows” for you to see from the inside out and vice versa. It reminds me of a millionaire’s private mansion. The location itself also had a very calm environment to it, as it was located inside a huge park, and next to the Queens Zoo, New York Hall of Science, and the Queen’s theater. I lingered around after our visit to explored the nearby attractions as well.

Now the focus of the trip was the exhibition “Panorama of the City of New York”. When you think of panorama, you quickly associate this with a photograph or picture, however this panorama was a model of New York City. The size of the model was SHOCKING! My mind was not prepared on how big and detailed the model was. The model itself took up a whole room for its exhibition. It also showed a view of the whole city from day to night via an airplane departing and arriving from LaGuardia Airport. I like how the exhibition relates to Robert Moses and the book that we are currently reading. Robert Moses commissioned this exhibition for the 1964 World’s Fair and it really opens up your eyes on his perception of city planning. They say seeing is believing, and this exhibition helped me put his words into a visual presentation. I personally have never been on a helicopter tour around New York City, so an aerial view of the WHOLE city in detailed model form was an eye opener. In the spring of 2009, the Museum launched its Adopt-a-Building program. It was aimed to help improve the future of the model while simultaneously bringing it up to date. For as little as $100, real estate on the Panorama can be “purchased,” with property owners receiving a deed in exchange for their donation. Hundreds have commemorated first date locations, elementary schools, first homes, and parents’ businesses by adopting a building. Its like playing real life Monopoly with the model. The “donations” also helped on a larger scale by having installations of new buildings on the Panorama, which includes: Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, and 27 buildings in Battery Park City.

In my personal views, this visit was both a cultural & architectural landscape. It helps a lot that we visit the Museum of the City of New York and viewed the film “Timescapes” before this field trip. It reflects on how and why certain parts of the city is constructed the way it is now. Its architectural on how the city grid is constructed the way it was, how Robert Moses favored expressways over public transit, and how the major bridges connected the cultures of the “working class” into certain parts of the city for work. The museum itself and the panorama of the city of New York serves the interest of the public. Its an educational piece for all, and does not benefit any particular or elite groups.

My first time visiting the NYC Transit Museum was more than 5 years ago, as I led a class of 2nd & 3rd graders on their summer field trip. The exhibits on display haven’t changed much besides position placements. The museum itself is actually located in the decommissioned Court Street subway station in Downtown Brooklyn. My favorite exhibits throughout the whole museum is the fare collections and the antique older models of subways and rail cars. The interior designs, cushioned seats, and different types of subways such as at the “Money Train” were eye openers on how the designs and ad placements have evolved over time.

Our next stop was a short walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Being born and raised in Brooklyn, this was NEVER the type of atmosphere you will expect in this neighborhood. Brooklyn Bridge Park is a public space filled with parks, waterfront beach, recreational areas for BBQs & sports, and many “artisan” restaurants. Stretching for 1.3 miles from Brooklyn Heights Promenade to DUMBO, it reinvented itself into what it is today; a major tourist attraction and tons of international investments into the neighborhood. Before Brooklyn Bridge Park is what it is today, it used to be an empty and out of commission piers, from Brooklyn Piers 1-6. Driving from Brooklyn into the city, you will ALWAYS pass by this view of emptiness and desolation on the BQE. In recent days, you will find roof top bars, wedding photos being taken, and pop up pool parties in this area, a complete drastic change from what it was before.

The last and final stop on this long walking trip was a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. Personally, I have rode my bike over the Brooklyn Bridge countless times before Citi Bike was even a thing! It is also another major tourist attraction, as you see tourists stopping by at every rest stop along the bridge to take gorgeous pictures of the city skyline in the background, as well as a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty. Since our visit to the Museum of the City of New York, and the viewing of “Timescapes”, I have came to admired what the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed for. The Brooklyn Bridge was build to connect the workforce from where they slept(Brooklyn), to where they have to go to work everyday (Downtown Manhattan).

In my personal views, this visit was both a cultural landscape and an architectural landscape. It is cultural as it connects the old (abandoned piers & the Brooklyn Bridge) with the new. Why waste such a nice waterfront location when you can develop it into the booming neighborhood it is now!? The development of this area reminds me in a very similar way on how industry city (Located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn) is “up-and-coming”. I believe the whole Brooklyn Bridge Park serves the interests of the public as it opened many public spaces to the surrounding communities. It also serves the interest of a few elite group. A prime example would be the Brooklyn Nets basketball team. Before the development of Brooklyn Bridge Park and Barclay Center, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn was considered the lower class. It was dirty, packed, and full of little mom and pop shops. But ever since the city focused their development into the neighborhood, tons of money have been ushered in. The previous majority stake holder of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team have moved into Brooklyn Bridge Park and constructed a training facility for its team members at a condominium right by the soccer field in pier 5. He was also a frequent customer of Fornino, a roof top pizza parlor/bar located at pier 6. This help bolstered the new neighborhood into a much more expensive investment than it already was planned to be.

This is my first time ever at the Skyscraper Museum (I didn’t even know this existed!), and my third time visiting the World Trade Center site and memorial.  The Skyscraper Museum was located at the edge of Battery Park, a more expensive and upscale neighborhood with its towering commercial & condominium buildings overlooking the trendy Jersey City, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street & the Charging Bull, and ferry services to both Ellis and Governors Island. It is also steps away from the World Trade Center Memorial. The Museum is located in a building once again build along the curve of the road following the Hudson River. The size of the museum was small, but had very informative and visually captivating exhibitions. The way the Museum and its exhibitions are set up makes you feel like you are in a Skyscraper. There are many mini models of NYC Skyscrapers as well as development plans with focuses on high-rise buildings as “products of technology, objects of design, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence”. There was also this reflective metal flooring tiles that makes it feel like I’m inside an elevator going up and down a NYC skyscraper.

The highlight of the trip was the World Trade Center Site. It was a fairly good day, and there was an abundance number of tourist, as well as many white collar employees having their lunch break at the WTC memorial site. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center Site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. A fun fact about the memorial is that, its not only dedicated to the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, but also commemorating the 1993 WTC bombing, which killed 6 people. The memorial itself is two large square holes deep into the ground, with repeating water flowing down all four sides like a waterfall. The names of the fallen are carved into the outer walls of the memorial.  The waterfalls are intended to mute the sounds of the city, making the site a contemplative sanctuary. There are also over 400 white oak trees that were planted throughout the memorial to further enhance the site’s reflective nature.

In my personal views, this visit was definitely a cultural landscape. A cultural landscape is defined as “cultural properties that represent the combined works of nature and of man”. Two 1-acre (4,000 m²) pools with the largest man-made waterfalls in the United States comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks. The memorial serves the interests of the public. It is a symbol for us to never forget what happened, and that we New Yorkers can overcome this and rebuild. There is also a callery pear tree recovered from the rubble at the World Trade Center site in October 2001 was later called the “Survivor Tree”. When the 8-foot tall tree was recovered, it was badly burned and had one living branch. The tree had been planted during the 1970s near buildings four and five, in the vicinity of Church Street. Memorial president Joe Daniels described it as “a key element of the memorial plaza’s landscape”.